A Chula Vista woman is thanking the bystanders who took down the guy who tried to carjack her Tuesday afternoon.
It happened in the busy parking lot of Pancho Villa Mercado on El Cajon Boulevard in City Heights.
Gloria Corvera was picking up a few things for her mom.
"It was very ballsy of this guy because there were so many people out there. It was daylight," said Corvera.
The man first approached her to ask her for the time.
"He goes 'excuse me, ma'am, do you have the time?' And I said, I go 'no, I'm not wearing a watch,'" said Corvera. "I must have felt something because I went like this (put her hand up) and I go 'I don't have the time.'"
"I felt him come behind me and he put his arms around me to reach for my purse and that's when I felt the fear and I started to yell 'no, no,'" said Corvera.
A security guard heard those screams and came running.
"The security guard just rammed himself between the door and the guy and grabbed my purse, grabbed him," said Corvera.
The thief still put up a fight, but other people jumped in to help.
"There was all these men that came out of the woodwork, like it was like angels just coming in and getting him and tackling him down on the ground," said Corvera.
Police arrested the man, who is also suspected of carjacking someone in downtown San Diego earlier that day.
Corvera wants the security guard and others to know she's grateful they didn't turn the other way.
"I was just like thank you, thank you. I wanted to hug each one of them, I was so happy."
