'I really thought it was just going to be it for me': Woman choked unconscious inside Hollywood 7-Eleven

LOS ANGELES - A young woman was tackled, strangled and robbed of her gold chain inside a 7-Eleven on Hollywood Boulevard just after midnight last Saturday, August 29, and the attack was captured on the store's surveillance cameras. 

Destiny Valderrama says she and two friends had left a quinceañera and stopped in for snacks when two strangers followed them through the door. She says she never made it past the ATM.

One week later, LAPD says the case remains an active robbery investigation and no one is in custody.

What we know:

Valderrama and two friends walked into the 7-Eleven near Las Palmas Avenue just after midnight. She says surveillance video shows two people crossing the street behind them and coming through the door seconds later.

She says she was grabbed by the hair from behind and pulled to the ground a few feet inside the store, near the ATM. She was strangled and struck in the head while she was down. She does not know how long she was unconscious.

Valderrama says the attackers never said a word to her or her friends. There was no demand. What they took was the gold chain and pendant she was wearing.

Both of her friends tried to intervene. Valderrama says one was dragged across the floor and the other was struck into the snack aisles. Nothing was taken from either of them.

Her injuries included bruising to her arms, her elbows and the back of her neck.

Her mother, Elizabeth Ortiz, says she did not grasp how serious it was until her daughter came home pale and marked. She went to the store the next day and asked for the recordings. Ortiz says the video shows the attackers first trying to strangle her daughter with the chain itself, and that the chain was too thick to break.

The store was open and had customers inside. Valderrama says she begged employees to call police and that no one did. She says the group was put out of the store instead.

Valderrama says there was no security outside the store that night.

LAPD confirms two suspects were involved in a robbery inside a business in the 6700 block of Hollywood Boulevard, that they fled the scene, and that the case remains under investigation. No arrests have been made.

What they're saying:

Valderrama walked FOX 11 through the moment she went down.

"Right there where it says ATM inside, right in that hallway was when I got tackled and I started getting strangled and I took hits on the ground."

Asked how long she was unconscious, she said, "I have no idea. I have no idea."

On how it started: "No, I was just like, I just felt somebody like kind of like grabbed the back of my hair and just like pull me down."

"It was horrible. It was just, it was so unexpected, like I didn't see it coming at all."

She says the surveillance video shows the two coming in behind her.

"You could see in the camera footage when they started following us right here and they were obviously targeting us. Like you can see they came in even like giggling and laughing."

She believes the chain was the only reason: "I think it was solely just for the chain, the necklace."

The chain was not just jewelry to her.

"It was my baptism chain. I had it since I was a baby."

She says she does not know what it was worth.

"I don't even know the value of it."

Asked why the attack still makes her emotional, Valderrama said, "Because I honestly didn't think I was going to get home that night. Like, I really thought it was just going to be it for me right there on that ground."

Standing outside the store, she was asked whether she thought she was going to lose her life inside. She answered, "Honestly, yeah."

On the response inside the store, Valderrama said, "I mean, everybody just watched. Nobody tried to step in for us." She says she kept asking employees to call police and that "they weren't willing to help us out."

"They kicked us out of the store. They said we were causing a disruptance to the rest of the customers."

"All I wanted was a phone call. You know, I understand if they were scared to step in, but I just wanted them to call the police."

"A busy store. There was there was people in there. Nobody like was willing to help."

Valderrama also says police did not come when the group called that night: "We didn't even get the police to arrive."

Her mother spoke in Spanish. Ortiz says her first reaction was that it was a simple snatch.

"Cuando ella me llamó y me dijo de que le habían quitado su cadena, este solo pensé como que se le había pasado a alguien, se le arrebató y se la quitó. No le tomé tanta importancia ya hasta cuando ella llegó a la casa y llegó toda golpeada."

That translates to: when her daughter called and said someone had taken her chain, she thought it was a grab off her neck and did not think much of it, until her daughter walked in beaten up.

On watching the video: "Pues yo como madre, imagínese usted si tiene su hijo y usted está viendo en un video como su cabeza se la estampan en el piso y ella cae inconsciente."

Ortiz says to imagine it as a parent, watching a video of your own child's head being slammed into the floor until she falls unconscious.

Valderrama says she wants the public to help.

"I hope somebody can recognize them."

"I really hope so. Like, I really, really do hope that they find them. I don't want anyone to ever experience that."

"I want the police to do something about it."

A week later, she says she still cannot get through the video.

"It feels like I'm reliving it like all over again."

"I still haven't been able to fully watch the footage myself."

What we don't know:

The two attackers have not been identified. LAPD has not released descriptions or said whether the suspects were on foot or in a vehicle.

FOX 11 reached out to 7-Eleven for comment, but haven’t heard back. 

What's next:

The robbery remains an open investigation with no arrests. Anyone who recognizes the two people in the surveillance video is asked to contact LAPD's Hollywood Division at 213-972-2971.

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