PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland mother is still in disbelief over what happened to her and her daughter early Wednesday morning.
"I just hate the fact that my daughter experienced this," Bobby Ishikawa said. "It's so, so not fair."
Ishikawa was on a bike. Her daughter was on a scooter. The two were on their way to North Portland's Sitton Elementary School, where Ishikawa's daughter waits for a bus to take her to a different school across town. The pair noticed a man on a bike was following them. He then approached them as they sat outside of the school.
"He mumbled something and I say 'what,' and he asked if I understand English and I say, 'yes.'"
Ishikawa said the man kept mumbling and inching closer to her and her daughter. After Ishikawa saw the man was carrying a large knife, the two made a run for it.
"As we were running away from him something hit my back," Ishikawa said. "I heard something drop and I looked back and it was the kitchen knife. He threw the knife at me."
As Ishikawa and her daughter banged on the school doors to get somebody's attention, Ishikawa said the man picked up the knife and started slashing the tires on her bike. He then left.
"Very, very traumatizing," Ishikawa said. "I feel very emotionally exhausted."
Ishikawa is grateful to the Sitton school staffer who let her and her daughter into the building to escape their attacker.
"It could've been worse," she said. "I'm glad he didn't have [a] gun in hand. Also no cut, no injury."
As relieved as Ishikawa is, she is just as worried that the man who attacked her and her daughter could do it again. She is hoping police catch him.
"Very much so," Ishikawa said. "He walked away with [a] knife and he's still out there. He threw a knife at a mom and daughter."
Staff at Sitton Elementary School tell KGW since the attack happened outside the school they felt it was necessary to notify parents.
Ishikawa said the guy who came after her and her daughter was wearing a dirty surgical mask, acid wash jeans, a black hooded jacket and he had a blue flashlight strapped to his waist. Anyone with information about this case should contact the Portland Police Bureau.