Springfield mother speaks out after attack

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WHDH) -- A Springfield mother described the moments of terror as a man attacked her on the street.

The mother is still emotionally recovering from the encounter in which a man threatened to kill her 4-year-old daughter.

"’Give me your purse,’ and I just see the knife, I didn't even look at his face -- I just saw the knife and stood back and then tried looking around, ran out into the middle of the street, calling for help," Diem Nguyen said.

Diem Nguyen spoke out for the first time since the attack that was caught on surveillance in Springfield.

The man came up to Nguyen and her 4-year-old daughter Friday night on Belmont Avenue as the two were walking into a Vietnamese market.

Nguyen said that's when she saw a knife shining in the man's hand, as he walked up and demanded her purse and threatened her daughter's life.

"He put the knife right on my daughter and said, 'If you run, I’ll kill her,'” said Nguyen.

Just steps away from the store's entrance, Nguyen is seen in the video making a move to the street to attempt to find help, leaving her young daughter in the arms of their attacker.

It's a move she's now being criticized for.

“I don’t know what I’m thinking,” said Nguyen.

She can then be seen running back into the camera view, her assailant just steps behind. She attempts to make her way into the store to get help, when the knife point finally hits its mark.

"He put the knife right here, he cut me and he ran," said Nguyen.

The man fled when customers heard her desperate cries for help and came running, potentially saving the lives of her and her daughter.

Although the visible wounds from the nightmare caught on camera will heal, for Nguyen, the emotional wounds will linger.

"It’s a wake-up call for the Vietnamese community, all the people they see on the news, just be careful. I'd never think it could happen to me," said Nguyen.

Police are investigating leads, but the man in the video has not been caught.