Diana Gonzalez has spoken out after a stranger allegedly bit a chunk of flesh from her forehead in a downtown Seattle street attack.
Gonzalez, 36, was walking to a 7-Eleven for a drink during her workday last week when the assault occurred. The suspect, identified as Kamilia Chadli, allegedly threw a food wrapper at her, then escalated the confrontation with spitting, slurs, and violence. Chadli, described as homeless, remains jailed on $150,000 bail with an arraignment set for 8:30 a.m. Sept. 28.
Gonzalez told NBC 16 in an interview that the attack came without warning. A large white bandage covered her forehead as she spoke.
“This was a totally random attack,” she said. “She started yelling racist things after throwing trash and spitting on me. Then she bit my face — she bit a piece of my face off.”
Chadli allegedly called Gonzalez “the inferior race” and used a homophobic slur before the physical assault began. She then reportedly threw Gonzalez to the ground and bit her, removing a piece of flesh approximately one inch in diameter from her forehead.
The injury required hospitalization and a skin graft to close the wound. Pictures shared with NBC 16 showed blood pouring down the right side of Gonzalez’s face. Police said she will be left with permanent scarring.
Gonzalez described her reaction upon first seeing the damage.
“I was like ‘Oh my god,’ because it looks like a zombie bite, like in a movie that you would see,” she said.
The horror deepened with a gruesome discovery by investigators. Law enforcement found a piece of flesh in a nearby grate that Chadli allegedly spat out after biting Gonzalez.
A witness intervened to pull the women apart, then pursued Chadli as she allegedly fled the scene. Seattle police later apprehended her. Chadli was initially booked in King County Jail on suspicion of a hate crime, though prosecutors ultimately charged her with felony second-degree assault.
Gonzalez expressed concern about the potential for future violence regardless of how the case resolves.
“I’m just concerned that she would do it again because it was so random,” she said.
She wants Chadli’s charge to remain at second-degree assault and hopes for a lengthy prison sentence, though she added that mental health treatment should be part of any outcome even if a plea deal is reached.
The physical recovery continues, but Gonzalez remains shaken by the specific nature of the attack.
“I can’t believe she bit a piece of my face off,” she said. “That’s the main thing that is still shocking. I can’t believe it.”
Police said the flesh removed from Gonzalez’s forehead measured about one inch across, and the skin graft procedure was necessary to address the open wound. The incident drew attention for its unusual and brutal character, with Gonzalez herself drawing the “zombie bite” comparison to describe her injuries to NBC 16.
Chadli remains in custody pending her Sept. 28 arraignment in King County.
