Arrest made in Lithonia home invasion, stabbing

Police have arrested the man who allegedly broke into a Lithonia home through a basement window and stabbed the homeowner in the face several times.

Police took Romelle James, 19, into custody Thursday for his alleged attack during a Monday home invasion.

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A neighbor's surveillance camera caught the suspect going in and out of the home.
 
"I thought I was dying, I really did, because I couldn't figure out where all he had stabbed me," said victim Carla Catalon-Scott.

The relief the woman says she feels on Channel 2 Action News at 6:14 p.m.
 
James allegedly stabbed Scott four times in the face and fractured both cheek bones. She has bruises all over her body.

She never imagined someone would break into her Lithonia home and attack her.
 
"He asked for money, he was upset that I didn't have more money," said Scott.

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She was working from home on Eastbriar Drive Monday afternoon. While she was upstairs on a conference call, someone broke in through a basement  window.

When she finished the conference  call, Scott says James was standing in her bedroom doorway.

“Terrifying! I screamed of course, and then I was just kind of stunned -- like, what’s going on,” said Scott.

She gave him her phone, and the only cash she had on her, $30.

Scott says James told her to look for more money.

That’s when she remembered her gun was in her nightstand. However, it was in a locked case, because she had small children visiting recently.

When she went for the gun case, Scott says James knew he couldn't let her get to it.
 
"When he saw me lean over, he dove onto the bed and that's when he and I started wrestling with the gun and wrestling for the gun and we were fighting. To make me let go of the gun, that's when he began to stab me," said Scott.

Her husband, Robert, said he saw the man walking by as he pulled out of his driveway. His gut told him to turn around and see where the man was going, but he didn’t. He knew the man was the same person he saw earlier after watching his neighbor’s surveillance video.

Cox Media Group