Police: Mall kidnapping suspect now connected to Alpharetta park assault
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - Police said they believe one man is responsible for two separate sexual assaults in two separate counties. The first incident happened in May 2017 at a park in Fulton County. Then a year later, a second attack, inside a mall in Cobb County. Police said thanks to a recent tip, they are now able to close the book on both cases.
"I was walking on the trail and he came up behind me with a knife and he tried to take me back into the barn area and he was going to sexually assault me,” a 23-year-old mother painted a clear picture of terror to a 911 operator back in May 2017.
RELATED: Pregnant mom with baby fights off attacker at Alpharetta park
The woman told 911 operators she was pushing a baby stroller at Willis Park in Alpharetta when an attacker grabbed her from behind and put a knife to her pregnant belly. Police said she was then sexually assaulted behind a barn.
"I pushed him away and he cut me with his knife and sprayed me with pepper spray and I fought back and I started screaming and he got scared and ran," the woman continued to describe in her 911 call.
A year later and a county over, another seemingly random attack happened in the middle of the day at a public place. This time, an 11-year-old girl inside a bathroom at Town Center Mall
"She was grabbed, the knife was brought toward her," police described.
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Cobb County Police said Danzell Mitchell was the man with the knife. The little girl screamed and ran away. As for Mitchell, police said he tried the same but was tackled by witnesses in the food court.
After the Cobb County mall assault aired on the news, police in Alpharetta said they received a tip identifying Danzell Mitchell as the same man who attacked the pregnant mother at Wills Park.
The 26-year-old man has been in the Cobb County Jail awaiting trial for the Town Center attempted kidnapping. Once that case is cleared, Mitchell will be transported to Fulton County to face charges in the park attack, which include aggravated assault, kidnapping, and sexual battery.
RELATED: Police: Girl, 11, attacked in Cobb County mall bathroom