21-year-old cashier has ‘long’ recovery ahead after she was stabbed in Kroger robbery
The 21-year-old cashier who was stabbed multiple times in a robbery at a Fort Worth Kroger says she is focusing on her health as months worth of recovery await her.
Mariah Smith was taken to a hospital in critical condition on May 1 after a man stabbed her in the abdomen with a knife at the Kroger at 9114 Camp Bowie W. Blvd., according to Fort Worth police.
The suspect, identified as 37-year-old Michael Pitts, was taken into custody at the grocery store and faces an aggravated robbery charge.
Smith said panic hit her and she was in a lot of pain when she was attacked. The robber approached her from behind and demanded she open her cash register, but she couldn’t because she was in the middle of scanning a customer’s groceries and the register was locked. When Smith turned around, the man stabbed her, she said.
“I was just trying to worry about if I’m going to stay alive or not,” Smith told the Star-Telegram on Tuesday.
Sheree Gross, Smith’s mother, said she didn’t know what had happened to her daughter until a Kroger manager called her and gave her the news that night.
“I just started crying,” Gross told the Star-Telegram. “I was like, ‘Is this real? Did I wake up to a nightmare?’”
Minutes later, a doctor called Gross notifying her that Smith had to go undergo an emergency surgery, where medical personnel had to remove her spleen, part of her pancreas and one of her kidneys.
“She lost a lot of blood,” Gross said. “I really can’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
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Smith says she will hold off on working and will focus on school after she fully recovers. For now, she is trying to rest as much as possible.
“I’m just trying to heal,” Smith said. Although she has a walker, it is still hard for her to move around because she has staples in her stomach.
“I’m just taking all the time I need to heal because if I go back to work, I’m probably not going to heal properly and then it’s going to really affect my physical pain,” Smith said.
She will also have to focus on her emotional well-being, Gross says.
“It’s a long recovery, you know, emotionally, physically, everything. He (Pitts) took a lot from her, from all of us,” said Gross. “We’re just taking it day by day because this is a long road ahead of her.”
Although she is recovering, Smith’s family is left traumatized from the stabbing.
“We haven’t been able to sleep. I’ve been out of work and stuff. It’s just been hard for us,” Gross said.
Smith’s family organized a fundraiser to help cover her medical expenses while her mother is taking time away from work.
“Because of this tragedy I don’t know when I’m able to return back to work and don’t know how I’m able to pay to continue to care for my daughter,” Gross wrote in the GoFundMe description.
Of a $50,000 goal, more than $2,000 had been raised as of Tuesday.
