About an hour before a woman threw an acid-like liquid in her face causing severe burns, 28-year-old

of Vancouver bought a pair of sunglasses.

“She never wears sunglasses, but she had a little extra money and bought a pair,’’ her mother, Nancy Neuwelt said from Storro’s room at the Oregon Burn Center at Legacy Emanuel Hospital Tuesday.

The decision may have saved her eyesight, but the damage to her face will take months to heal, her family says.

The incident occurred just before Storro, who also goes by the nickname, Beese, stopped for coffee at a Starbucks in the area of Eighth and Columbia streets near Esther Short Park at 7:15 p.m. Monday night.

Storro, who had just moved to Vancouver from Idaho to live with her parents and had just started a new job at the Washhougal Safeway deli, was getting something from the passenger side of her car when the woman walked up to her.

“She said, ‘Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?’” Neuwelt said. The woman then threw a cup of un unknown, acid-like liquid in her face. Storro described the woman as an African-American woman in her late 20s, to early 30s, with slicked-back hair in a pony tail. She was wearing a green shirt and khaki shorts.

Storro told her mother that it was the most excruciating pain she had ever felt in her life. She immediately collapsed on the ground, screaming for help. Storro realized that she was not being heard and stumbled towards an area with more people.

A good samaritan came to her aid. The liquid was so caustic in burned holes in her blouse, which Storro tore off and used to try and get the liquid off her face.

Storro was listed in serious condition at the

at Legacy Emanuel Hospital.

“Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers," Storro said in a written statement Tuesday. “I appreciate all of the well wishes being sent my way. I do ask, if anyone should know the woman who assaulted me, please contact the Vancouver Police.”

Her mother said doctors have told them that the burns could still go deeper over the next couple of days.

She said her daughter’s face was extremely swollen. It will be some time before doctors are able to determine if she will need skin grafts to repair the damage.

For now, Storro and her extended family are asking why someone would do this to anyone, let alone a stranger.

“Bethany said from the moment the woman walked up to her she felt “weird right away and wanted to get away from her,’’ Neuwelt said. “She’s been up, she’s been down, angry one moment, and the next she's asking “why, why did this happen to me?”

Kim Kapp, spokeswoman for the

, said doctors are also trying to determine what kind of material caused Storro’s facial burns, and police are testing the liquid to see what it is.

“It’s a very unusual incident, but we do occasionally have these odd kind of assaults,’’ Kapp said.

Kapp said police are hoping to be able to generate a composite drawing of the assailant based on Storro’s description, and from any witnesses to the attack.

“This is a fairly busy part of town at that time of night,’’ she said. “People might have witnessed this and not thought it was too serious at the time.”

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call Vancouver Police Major Crimes Detective Wally Stefan at 360-487-7425.

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