Imagine for a moment that you are at work and you hear someone screaming outside. The yelling is loud and the fear in it is palpable, so you run outside.
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As soon as get outside, you see a young woman kneeling near train tracks and watch in horror as she gouges her own eyes out.
This is was what Anderson, S.C. resident and church employee Elizabeth Hiott witnessed Tuesday, WYFF reported.
Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride has told news outlets that it took two or three deputies and two emergency medical workers to subdue the woman to start rendering aid. When she was found, she was holding her eyeball in her hand.
A retired minister who helped the woman, Rev. Terry Mitchell, says it appeared she had intentionally hurt herself on nearby railroad tracks. He said the woman looked young, and struggled against people who were trying to help her.
We’ve since learned that the woman involved is 19 years old and had attended services at the church but not regularly.
Hiott, a South Main Chapel and Mercy Center employee, said that the 911 dispatcher did not believe the incident as she reported it.
Churchgoer, 19, gouges out her own EYES and fights anyone who tries to help her https://t.co/zqJp80RKiL
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) February 7, 2018
“It was terrible what I witnessed, it really was,” she said. “It was across the street and I could see blood and could hear her screaming, and I realized something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.”
“I immediately called 911 and it almost felt like the 911 dispatcher didn’t even believe me, that’s how crazy it was,” she added.
911 Shocker: Woman gouges her own eyes out https://t.co/2FOwblrAaH pic.twitter.com/Z9NfVyCUJX
— 11Alive News (@11AliveNews) February 7, 2018
Concerned locals tried to stop the unidentified woman from self-harming but it was to no avail. The woman ended up gouging both of her eyes out and was holding them in her hands.
The woman was eventually airlifted to a nearby hospital. It’s not clear at this time what her condition is or what caused her to gouge her eyes out.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.