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Terrifying moment woman is attacked at the gym: 'Get away from me!'

Nashali Alma, 24, has been hailed an inspiration after fighting off an attacker in an assault captured on video.

A 24-year-old woman was minding her own business at the gym when a man grabbed her and wrestled her to the ground, with the frightening interaction caught on CCTV.

"Get away from me, stop trying to touch me," Nashali Alma recalled shouting to her attacker, who approached her in the empty workout space last month.

Ms Alma's attacker at the gym pushed her onto the floor.
The attacker at the gym grabbed the unsuspecting 24-year-old after she let him into communal facilities. Source: Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office via Storyful

Ms Alma recognised the man as a fellow resident from her apartment complex in Florida, Fox13 reported. She initially opened the door for him to gain access to the gym. However, after several minutes he approached her and she immediately felt in danger.

The attacker, identified by local police as Xavier Thomas Jones, chased her around the gym before grabbing ahold of her and the pair began to wrestle with one another. He managed to push her to the ground but the 24-year-old continued to fight back as he lay on top of her.

Thankfully, Ms Alma was able to free herself and she dashed for the door.

'Grateful' police believe incident with empower others

Sheriff Chad Chronister spoke on the incident in a video released by the local Sheriff's Office and he hopes Ms Alma's story will serve as an example for other women, reminding them they are capable of defending themselves when the unimaginable happens.

"I'm grateful that she came forward. I know that her story is going to be an inspiration to other women," he said.

After the CCTV footage was released, Ms Alma's social media has been flooded with positive comments and she has been described as "brave".

"You're a role model," one woman wrote.

"The police chief said you can serve as motivation for other women out there. That is flat out wrong! I’m a 49-year-old man, and you motivated the f**k outta me!" another comment said.

Ms Alma graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Biomedical Sciences last year and is now an fitness instructor and online coach  Source: Instagram / Nashali Alma
Ms Alma graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Biomedical Sciences last year and is now a fitness instructor and online coach Source: Instagram / Nashali Alma

The 24-year-old, who is an avid exerciser, said a lesson drummed into her by her parents during her childhood helped her flee from her attacker.

"My advice would be to never give up. My parents always told me in life to never give up on anything, and that's one thing I always kept in my mind when I was fighting him," she explained.

Thanks to her swift action, both during the attack and afterwards when reporting the incident to the police, authorities were quickly able to catch the suspect.

Mr Thomas Jones was arrested several days after the attack on January 23 and now faces charges of sexual battery, false imprisonment, and kidnapping.

"As long as you don't give up, you fight back, you show him that you are strong, that you are one, that you're able to fight back and survive this and get out of the situation, I believe it's possible," Ms Alma said.

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