Assault victim: 'I don't want to live in fear'

FREMONT – Virginia Guerrero was scheduled for breast cancer surgery on Tuesday, which was meant to be followed by a round of chemotherapy and radiation.

But her fight against cancer will have to wait.

Guerrero, 65, of Fremont, is too weak for cancer treatment as she recovers from being severely beaten and choked by a man who entered her North Street home last week, officials reported.

Her doctors said she should wait to undergo the surgery and pushed the procedure back a few weeks.

"God gives me the strength to keep on going," Guerrero said in an interview Tuesday. "I will mend, and I will be back to being myself again because I don't want to live in fear."

Fremont Police Chief Tim Wiersma said his department is still seeking information regarding two people of interest in the attack who were caught on surveillance video at a local carryout.

"We have sent (photos) to other departments from the Indiana border past Cleveland," Wiersma said. "We have had no responses. They are not recognized as local."

Guerrero said she wants the people involved in the attack to be caught so they can't hurt anyone else.

"I am thankful to be alive," she said. "I can't sleep. I wake up all startled. It's like they took peace from you."

Guerrero was taking a nap Thursday afternoon when she said she woke to see a man standing over her. She said she cannot remember whether the door to her home was locked, but when her husband came home, he reported finding it unlocked.

When she started screaming for help, the man — whom she described as black and in his early 20s with long, wavy black hair — started hitting her and choking her, she said. She passed out, and the man stole money from her purse, police said.

"I think if I had kept struggling, he probably would have choked me to death," she said. "He did a lot of damage to my face."

She suffered a concussion, broken eardrum and a black eye. She gets dizzy, has a constant headache and cannot walk without help.

A few weeks before the attack, Guerrero learned she has breast cancer.

"You just finally accept it and know you have to have all of this done, and then this happens," she said.

Her large family — including her brothers, sisters and children — has helped her through the tough times, she said.

She is staying with family and likely will not return to her home until suspects are caught, according to her daughter, Veronika Esquivel.

Staff writer Craig Shoup contributed to this story.

mksmith@gannett.com

419-334-1044

Twitter: @kristinasmithNM

Do you know these men?

Anyone with information on two people of interest or with any information about the assault on Virginia Guerrero is asked to call Fremont police at 419-332-6464.

Eyewitnesses told police one of the people of interest was going door-to-door in Guerrero's neighborhood the day of the assault. He was seen wearing a dark shirt, a gold chain, and light pants on a surveillance camera at a local business.

The second person of interest, who was not seen in the home where Guerrero was assaulted, was wearing a light shirt, an Ohio State ball cap and a bracelet.