Surveillance video captures SLC Main Street gun assault, attempted abduction

SALT LAKE CITY — A woman was hoping someone would be able to identify a stranger, after the man attacked her with a gun on a downtown street late Monday night and tried to drag her toward his car.

Cherokee Brodersen said she was walking in the area of 800 S. Main Street at around 11:30 p.m., on the way to see a friend, when the unknown man pulled up behind her in his car and ran up to her on the sidewalk.

“He was like, ‘Hey, where are you going? Can you hang out? What are you doing tonight?’” Brodersen said in an interview Wednesday. “(He was) just like a guy trying to pick you up, you know, like a little over-aggressive.”

Brodersen — who was in a walking boot at the time — said, though, she soon figured out the man was not going to take “no” for an answer.

“Instead of walking with me, he got in front and, like, flashed his gun,” the woman said. “I said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to shoot me right now because I’m not getting in your car.’”

She said the man fired a shot in the air and a struggle ensued, with the man trying to push Brodersen back toward his car, which was running with a door open.

“He hit me behind the ear with the gun and I felt my knees go,” said Brodersen, describing the assault. “When I got back up, he punched me in the face with the gun and started pulling me down the sidewalk by my hair.”

Surveillance video captured the gun shot and Brodersen’s screams, which appeared to be effective in finally causing the attacker to run.

“I don’t know what the plan was, but I was like, I would rather be shot on the sidewalk,” she said.

Brodersen said she suffered multiple fractures to her jaw, face and around her eye socket. Her eye showed deep bruising around it on Wednesday evening.

Not only did the attack take a toll physically — it also affected her psyche.

“Walking around in the dark is never going to feel the same,” Brodersen said, turning emotional. “I don’t know if he’s trying to find me or what.”

Beyond what was captured by surveillance footage, she described her attacker as roughly around 30 years old, stocky, on the shorter side, with sandy blonde hair and a short beard.

“He just looked like a normal guy,” Brodersen said. “That was the creepiest part.”

A spokesperson said Salt Lake City police officers were investigating the matter. Anybody with information was asked to contact the department at 801-799-3000.

Brodersen said she was finding strength by sharing her story as well as hope in the potential for the man to be caught.

“I’m not just going to go away,” Brodersen said. “I didn’t deserve it.”