MARION COUNTY, FL (WKMG/CNN) - Deputies arrested two 18-year-olds after they allegedly assaulted four people in an unprovoked attack in the parking lot of a Florida gas station.
The victims say they had just stopped at a Circle K gas station in Silver Springs, FL, on Sept. 22 when the suspects approached them, yelling.
In surveillance video, released by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, victim Tersa Elghali is seen standing next to a red pick-up truck when she is attacked by 18-year-old Julia Napiontek, according to deputies.
Elghali’s 11-year-old daughter can then be seen getting out of the truck’s passenger seat. Deputies say Napiontek also attacked the little girl, throwing her to the ground.
Strangers attack family, including 11-year-old girl, outside FL gas station
From inside the gas station, Elghali’s boyfriend Jason Ellis could see his girlfriend and her daughter being attacked, he says.
"When I saw an 11-year-old girl getting attacked…” Ellis said, shaking his head. “I don't know what to do."
Deputies say Ellis was physically assaulted by 18-year-old Brandon Clanton, as the victim was headed back toward the car.
"Next thing I know, I'm turned around, I'm walking back toward the truck and I'm getting attacked," Ellis said.
Later in the video, the 11-year-old can be seen frantically running through the parking lot while the two suspects get in their car and leave the scene.
“I grabbed her and hid behind a gas tank, yelling at people to call the police,” Elghali said.
Deputies identified Napiontek and Clanton from surveillance footage and arrested them, according to a Marion County Sheriff’s Office post on Facebook.
The victims told deputies they didn’t previously know their attackers and that there was no motive for the confrontation.
Ellis says the 11-year-old is now healing from her injuries.
“I don’t think she’ll get over it. I mean, she will eventually start doing more things [but] she’s scared to go out now and do things without somebody. That shouldn’t be right,” Ellis said.
Napiontek is charged with battery and aggravated child abuse, while Clanton is charged with battery and simple assault on a law enforcement officer. Detectives say Clanton resisted during his arrest.
Clanton is being held without bond because just 11 days prior to his arrest, he had been released on bond for a separate incident that occurred Aug. 23.
During that incident, Clanton allegedly approached a 17-year-old he didn’t know in a convenience store. Deputies say the 18-year-old violently struck the other teenager multiple times.
The 17-year-old, who was trying to get his grandmother something to drink from the store, needed seven stitches on his face, according to the sheriff’s department.
Clanton was charged with aggravated child abuse in the August incident.
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