Second Acid Throwing Attack Work of a Copy Cat?

Staff Writer: Young Black Muhammad

There was a second "random" acid throwing attack last week on a female. Police and other experts have said they believe the 2nd attack to be the work of a copy cat imitating the first. The 2nd attack took place Friday (Sept. 3) in Mesa, Ariz.

The victim, Derri Velarde, 41, a mother of five, says it came out of the blue. She says she was getting out of her car at home and, "There was a woman walking from the back side of my car. ... She had what I thought was a glass of water in her hand, and then she just stopped abruptly and looked at me and just threw it in my face." "It just instantly was like fire. It started burning intensely, instantly," she told CBS News from her hospital bed. Velarde was left with severe burns on her face and neck, and along her arms.

This attack is very similar to one that occurred Monday (Aug. 30) in Vancouver, Wash, that is when 28-year old Bethany Storro was also attacked as she left her car. Again it was a female stranger throwing acid on her face.

"It was the most painful thing ever," Storro, her face wrapped with bandages, told a hospital news conference. "My heart stopped, I almost passed out."