PITTSBURGH — A man is facing charges after he allegedly attempted to sexually assault a woman in her apartment in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood.
Police responded to a second-story apartment on Tuesday, May 17, and found a woman with a large kitchen knife, screaming at a man and telling him not to move.
Police said the suspect, 64-year-old Patrick Yungwirth, was on the floor where the woman told him to sit after he allegedly came in through her window, jumped onto her bed and tried to sexually assault her.
According to the criminal complaint, the woman woke up to find a man standing in her bedroom with his arms wide open. He allegedly jumped onto her, and they started fighting.
The woman told police he grabbed her by the neck and started to strangle her, causing her to stop breathing for a few seconds.
She punched and kicked her way away from him, and according to the complaint, the woman told police he said, “don’t hurt me, I’m a friend,” before she grabbed a large kitchen knife and told him to stop and get down on the floor.
News of the attack was shocking to people who live in the neighborhood.
“It’s pretty surprising, it is a pretty quiet neighborhood, not a lot of crazy things that happen here,” said Christopher Langer. Langer was one of many people who heard the woman fought back and stopped the assault. “We are fighting, people in Bloomfield are fighters, people in Lawrenceville are fighters, we keep our own community safe. It wasn’t like the police were there to protect her, she was there to protect herself and she did a great job until police came and detained him.”
Yungwirth was released from jail, but police have filed more charges against him. There is now a warrant out for his arrest.
This browser does not support the video element.