Woman punched in the head in random attack in downtown Chicago

A woman was punched in the head by a man in the Loop in broad daylight earlier this week, a disturbing return of a trend of similar incidents that rocked the city last year.

Incidents involving so-called "serial punchers" have rocked the sense of security of women in downtown Chicago.

The latest victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was simply on her way to work when she was attacked on Tuesday morning.

"It was, like, 8:30 in the morning, so everyone was getting to work," she said.

The woman said she was at the intersection of Clark and Washington streets Tuesday morning, when she started to cross the street towards LaSalle Street and noticed a man yelling.

"As soon as I passed him, he turned around and he hit me," she said.

By the time she looked for the man, he had already run away.

"As soon as he hit me, I was in shock. I didn't know what to do, and I started tearing up immediately," she said.

Moments after she was attacked, she shared her traumatic experience on TikTok.

"I was literally just walking downtown on my way to work and I got f****** hit by this random guy, like on my back of the head," she said in that video.

The woman went to urgent care to seek medical attention, and would post another video that got even more reach.

"I think my initial video was just like, a kind of shock; like, 'Oh my god, I can't believe this just happened to me.' And the video I made right after was like, 'Oh my gosh, I don't want this to happen to anyone else,'" she said.

The 27-year-old woman said she was aware of so-called "Loop punchers" who assaulted women downtown last year. She hopes city leaders address the issue.

"I just hope that they take it seriously and that they put something in place to protect women," she said.

The victim said her sense of security is still recovering.

"I don't currently feel safe to go outside. I hope that I can rebuild my confidence and my sense of safety to go back outside, but I think it's going to take time," she said.

She also acknowledged the help and positive words she's gotten from family and friends, as well as strangers who checked on her when the incident happened and who shared positive words online.

"It just goes to show that the world is actually good. The world is full of good people," she said.

Police said the incident remained under investigation on Thursday.