Neighbors said it started Wednesday night and went into the early hours of the morning when the police arrived around 1 a.m. at a condominium complex in the 900 block of Stewarts Creek Drive. One neighbor, who didn't want to give her full name, said she and her children could hear the terrifying incident unfold in the unit above them.
[Ads /]
"I heard her yelling, 'stop, please,' yelling his name to stop. And I could hear him hit her," she said. "He slammed her and she started screaming."
The police were called to the scene. The neighbor said the police almost left because they couldn't get inside the unit but that she begged them to stay:
"I said, 'her kids are up there. She has babies up there. So either she's unconscious, or he's holding her against her will," the neighbor said.
Then the unthinkable happened. Police say 26-year-old Thurman Lesley Brewer threw his partner off of their third-floor balcony. The woman landed in the woods and now has severe head trauma.
"I grabbed my daughter and I shook my head because I was like, 'this can't be life right now,'" the neighbor said.
Another woman said she was horrified by the incident and didn't want to speak on camera.
[Ads /]
"I feel absolutely disgusted and horrid. Because it's like, I don't ...any man hitting a woman, or any woman hitting a man, you shouldn't just be putting your hands on anybody. It's simple as that. If you're mad about something, just walk away," the woman said.
The victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Police say Brewer tried to get away but was caught and arrested. He is charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with Intent to kill inflicting serious injury, battery of an unborn child, and five counts of assault inflicting serious injury in the presence of a juvenile. Children who were inside the home at the time of the assault have been taken in by family members.
The neighbor said she is seriously thinking about finding a new home, frightened by all of the violence she's seen in the complex. She urged others who sense they may be witnessing a domestic violence situation to step in.
"If you think you know something, or you think you heard something, or you think you seen something, it's a knock on a door. It's them probing, asking questions, seeing if they can find out something. Maybe it will make that person think a second time before they do something again because they realize, 'oh, people are paying attention,'" she said.
Brewer is being held in the Cumberland County Jail on a $2 million secured bond.
Anyone with further information on this case is asked to contact Detective M. O'Hara at (910) 605-6393 or Crimestoppers at (910) 483-TIPS (8477). Crimestoppers information can also be submitted electronically.