Puyallup sexual assault suspect captured on camera

Puyallup sexual assault suspect captured on camera »Play Video
A man wanted in connection with an attempted sexual assault was captured on Walmart security cameras Tuesday night. (Courtesy of Puyallup Police Department)

PUYALLUP, Wash. -- Officers are looking for the man who allegedly attempted to sexually assault a 22-year-old woman Tuesday night near the Puyallup Walmart.

According to the Puyallup Police Department, the victim was walking in the 2900 block of Fifth Street Southeast around 10:20 p.m. when the shirtless suspect approached her while playing with a lighter and struck up a conversation.

"He said, 'Hey little girl, what are you doing out so late? Do you realize you could get raped?' " the victim, who does not want to be identified, told KOMO News.

After speaking briefly, the man attacked the woman, forcing her toward a fence and physically assaulting her, according to police.

"He like pushed me onto the fence and I was kind of like sideways and not completely facing him and I figured hit him where it hurts," the victim said.

The victim escaped by kneeing the suspect in the groin and running to the nearby Walmart for help.

Despite a police dog search, officers were unable to find the attacker but later learned he had been in the Walmart prior to the attack and was captured on the store's surveillance cameras.

He is described as a white man in his 30s, approximately 180 pounds and 6-feet-2-inches tall. He has stained or possibly decaying front teeth, a circular tattoo around his bellybutton and another tattoo on his right bicep. He was wearing a red baseball cap, blue baggy jeans and playing with a lighter.

Meanwhile, the victim worries the man might have been after young girls.

"It's right next to a park, so it could have been a little kid," the victim said. "I mean, he did call me a little girl, so hopefully he gets caught."