Lee’s Summit mother fights back against sexual assault suspect

LEES SUMMIT, Missouri – A brave and courageous mother tells FOX4 her story after she says a man broke into her home and attacked her – while her children were there.

The suspect is now in jail and being held without bail. This happened Monday in Lee’s Summit, and when police arrived, an officer had to physically pull the suspect off the woman.

“The 911 person – the dispatcher had said, ‘You’re safe now, Sarah.’ They put him in handcuffs,” Sarah Bommarito remembers.

Bommarito says she refused to be a victim that day and decided to fight back. That’s exactly what she did, but for almost 15 minutes she was living her worst nightmare.

It was what you would expect on a spring Monday with warm temperatures and children playing. But the beautiful day turned to terror when a man followed Bommarito’s children into their home.

“‘Hey, I think you’re in the wrong house.’ That’s what I told him…you’re in the wrong house,” Bommarito said.

The man was determined to stay home, but the mother of two was more determined to get him out, and she did. She locked her door and immediately called 911, but he didn’t let up.

“He went to my front door and rang the doorbell nonstop – over and over again – just banging,” she described.

The man then went to another door and, according to investigators, Khalil Cooper broke in and began sexually assaulting Bommarito while her two daughters and her friend were upstairs.

She called 911. The entire attack was recorded.

“The outcome of what happened to me is so different because the officer came through the side door and didn’t wait – he didn’t wait for backup,” Bommarito said.

That officer had to pull Cooper off of her and wrestle with him until backup arrived. He was then arrested and is now charged with three felonies, including two counts of sodomy or attempted sodomy and burglary.

Four days after the brutal attack, this mother has a strong message for her fellow women:

“Before you do anything to destroy evidence, do not wash your hands and do not wash your body. I wanted to set myself on fire, I wanted to be clean, I wanted all of those things, and you have to fight because you’re going to destroy your evidence, so fight back,” she said.

She says she would like to thank Lee’s Summit Officer Price for his actions in stopping this attack.