Edmonds jogger tells frightening tale after being attacked

Jacqueline Goss LaCasse was on her normal morning run Tuesday. They are often quiet and uneventful, which is partially why it was such a shock when she was suddenly attacked.

“I was on my last lap. Everything was normal. Somebody came up behind me, grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me, threw me down,” she told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “It was really scary for me. I was screaming and kicking. That was enough, I guess. He got scared off.”

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The incident happened at 6:47 a.m. — Goss LaCasse remembers looking at her watch before it happened. The 35-year-old Edmonds runner said that she always runs on a well-lit route, and knows other runners out at the same time. There were other early risers out and about, garbage trucks making their rounds, and school buses driving by. In the midst of all that, the attack happened.

“It was real quick,” she said. “I felt somebody coming up behind me, and I assumed it was another jogger … but he was real fast and it just felt a little bit weird, and I didn’t quite register that it was happening until his hands were on my shoulders and he was pushing me down.”

Despite the frightening incident, she says that the experience isn’t going to prevent her from continuing her usual morning routine in Edmonds.

“I’m still going to continue running … it’s my thing,” she said. “I don’t have coffee in the morning, I go for a run. I definitely don’t want to be intimidated by it.”

Listen to the full conversation with Jaqueline Goss LaCasse here.