SPRINGFIELD, MA (KPTV) -
Surveillance video from a Vietnamese market in Massachusetts shows a mother running from an armed robber, leaving her 4-year-old daughter behind in the arms of her attacker.
Diem Nguyen told FOX 12's sister station CBS 3 Springfield that she and her daughter were approached as they walked into the market.
Nguyen said she saw a knife in the man's hand when he walked up, and he demanded her purse and threatened her daughter's life.
"He put the knife right on my daughter and said, 'If you run, I'll kill her,'" Nguyen said.
Just steps away from the store's entrance, Nguyen is seen in the video making a move to the street to attempt to find help, leaving her young daughter with the attacker.
The video later shows her running back into the camera view as the attacker cut her. The robber escaped after customers from inside the market came running to help.
MORE: Victim of stabbing attack relives nightmare
Copyright 2012 KPTV (Meredith Corporation.) All rights reserved.