MIAMI SPRINGS, Fla. – Miami-Dade County police are searching for a man who forced his way into a woman's hotel room Monday and sexually assaulted her.
Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, said the incident took place just after noon Monday at the Clarion Inn & Suites Miami Airport in the 5300 block of Northwest 36th Street in Miami Springs.
The woman told police the man knocked on her door and pushed his way in the room. He was armed with an orange box cutter, police said. He fled the hotel after he assaulted the woman, police said.
Police said the attacker, who was not a guest at the hotel, appeared to have randomly chosen the room. The 33-year-old victim was a tourist visiting South Florida and did not know her attacker.
"I'm in shock. We didn't know something like that was happening here," hotel patron Claudia Aguilar said.
Aguilar and her two teenaged daughters have been staying at the hotel since Friday. She believes the hotel missed a crucial opportunity to inform guests about the incident.
"I get really scared, and I would like that the hotel take security measures. At least, that I know, so I can close my door or -- I don't know -- just don't open to anybody," she said.
Police described the attacker as a black man in his early 20s. He has a thin build and is about 5 feet, 4 inches tall. He has a mustache and full beard and wears his black hair in an afro style. He was last seen wearing a multicolor T-shirt, faded jeans and white tennis shoes.
Police also released a sketch of the suspect. Police ask anyone who spots the attacker to call 911. He is considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Miami-Dade Police Department Special Victims Bureau at 305-715-3300 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.