PobreBrusco
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- Aug 15, 2006
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After a quick search, I didn't see that this has been posted yet. The following article was front page, big and bold, last Sunday in the Charleston, SC, Post & Courier (our largest local newspaper):
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/dec/02/beths_got_gun23826/
Here's an excerpt, see the link above for the full article (it's quite long):
After attack at florist shop, victim becomes 'the victor' by getting a permit to carry
By Nadine Parks (http://www.charleston.net/staff/nadine_parks/contact/)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Beth Ferguson gets instruction as she prepares to fire a .22 caliber gun under the supervision of firearms instructor Frank DiNardo as she trains for her concealed weapons permit. Ferguson was brutally attacked and tied up by a man after she stopped by a North Charleston flower shop to pick up an order.
She was beaten, kicked in the face, gagged, tied to a chair and locked in a closet.
After escaping that nightmare, Beth Ferguson needed nearly two weeks to garner the courage to step out of her home. Her first trip was to church, her safe haven.
She went on a Saturday night, hoping fewer people would be there as opposed to the heavily attended Sunday morning service. But it was packed.
"It's odd, because when you're a victim of something like this, you almost begin to act like a victim. I got real overwhelmed and nervous. I was scared half to death, and I didn't know why," Beth said. "Have you ever seen a scary movie and been scared afterward? That's what it's like."
She endured the glances from curious church members, who couldn't help but see the bruises and cuts on her face. After that night, Beth decided she needed to return to a normal life. But she still felt violated, unsafe. She was living in fear.
Her second trip out of the house: a gun shop on Cross County Road in North Charleston.
"I'm going back to work one day," Beth said. "And when I do, I'll have a gun."
The attack; the recovery
Beth, 41, was the only customer in the Carolina Florist shop on Ashley Phosphate Road late in the afternoon on April 10.
The man behind the counter advised her to look through a book so she could pick out a corsage for her son's prom. Suddenly, he held a knife to her throat.
She fought, but he choked her until she was unconscious. She woke up to find him standing over her. When she fought again, he kicked her in the face until she agreed to cooperate.
In the locked closet, Beth sat tied to a chair, a tennis ball stuffed in her mouth. But then the man drove away, and Beth seized the moment to free herself. After she climbed through the false ceiling and dropped down into the bathroom next door, she smashed her way out through the front glass window to freedom.
Lemar "Tommy" Mack, the 45-year-old husband of the florist shop owner, was arrested two days later. He was charged with kidnapping, armed robbery and assault and battery with intent to kill.
Mack had previously been convicted and served jail time for abducting a woman at a Kmart on Rivers Avenue and raping her. He also had been convicted for attacking women in 1979 and 1984. He remains at the Charleston County Detention Center because he can't make the $3 million bail.
Beth has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Mack and his wife, Deborah Mack, and Carolina Florist.
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/dec/02/beths_got_gun23826/
Here's an excerpt, see the link above for the full article (it's quite long):
After attack at florist shop, victim becomes 'the victor' by getting a permit to carry
By Nadine Parks (http://www.charleston.net/staff/nadine_parks/contact/)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Beth Ferguson gets instruction as she prepares to fire a .22 caliber gun under the supervision of firearms instructor Frank DiNardo as she trains for her concealed weapons permit. Ferguson was brutally attacked and tied up by a man after she stopped by a North Charleston flower shop to pick up an order.
She was beaten, kicked in the face, gagged, tied to a chair and locked in a closet.
After escaping that nightmare, Beth Ferguson needed nearly two weeks to garner the courage to step out of her home. Her first trip was to church, her safe haven.
She went on a Saturday night, hoping fewer people would be there as opposed to the heavily attended Sunday morning service. But it was packed.
"It's odd, because when you're a victim of something like this, you almost begin to act like a victim. I got real overwhelmed and nervous. I was scared half to death, and I didn't know why," Beth said. "Have you ever seen a scary movie and been scared afterward? That's what it's like."
She endured the glances from curious church members, who couldn't help but see the bruises and cuts on her face. After that night, Beth decided she needed to return to a normal life. But she still felt violated, unsafe. She was living in fear.
Her second trip out of the house: a gun shop on Cross County Road in North Charleston.
"I'm going back to work one day," Beth said. "And when I do, I'll have a gun."
The attack; the recovery
Beth, 41, was the only customer in the Carolina Florist shop on Ashley Phosphate Road late in the afternoon on April 10.
The man behind the counter advised her to look through a book so she could pick out a corsage for her son's prom. Suddenly, he held a knife to her throat.
She fought, but he choked her until she was unconscious. She woke up to find him standing over her. When she fought again, he kicked her in the face until she agreed to cooperate.
In the locked closet, Beth sat tied to a chair, a tennis ball stuffed in her mouth. But then the man drove away, and Beth seized the moment to free herself. After she climbed through the false ceiling and dropped down into the bathroom next door, she smashed her way out through the front glass window to freedom.
Lemar "Tommy" Mack, the 45-year-old husband of the florist shop owner, was arrested two days later. He was charged with kidnapping, armed robbery and assault and battery with intent to kill.
Mack had previously been convicted and served jail time for abducting a woman at a Kmart on Rivers Avenue and raping her. He also had been convicted for attacking women in 1979 and 1984. He remains at the Charleston County Detention Center because he can't make the $3 million bail.
Beth has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Mack and his wife, Deborah Mack, and Carolina Florist.
