WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (WFLA) – Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies are searching for an armed and dangerous suspect who randomly shot a woman at a Winter Haven convenience store.

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 62-year-old Melissa Thomas stopped at the Circle K on Spirit Lake Road before going to work around 5:15 a.m. Sunday.

Deputies say Thomas had gone inside the store, returned and was preparing to leave when a young black male pointed a handgun at her and fired once through her open door, striking her. The man is believed to be in his early 20s wearing a black hoodie with white lettering. He had his nose and mouth covered and was wearing black pants.

“As she’s getting into her car she hears him say something about her purse,” Sheriff Grady Judd told WFLA. “He pulls a gun out and walks around to her open door and he immediately shoots her and turns and runs. He doesn’t take her purse, doesn’t take her money, he takes nothing.”

“I was sick all day,” the victim’s mother Ann Hughes told WFLA.

Hughes has cancer and has not been able to visit her daughter in the hospital. Her daughter is her main caretaker.

“It’s been scary,” she said. “I hope she makes it.”

The shooter ran away in an unknown direction. Detectives believe that, because he left on foot, it is possible that the suspect lives in the area.

The victim was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. She has gone through multiple surgeries.

“He’s a coward, he’s a punk, he left this woman for dead,” Sheriff Judd said. “We’re going to catch you. We’re going to chase you down and we’re going to put you in jail.”

Hughes wants the man caught before he does it to someone else.

“He’s crazy. He shot this woman for no reason and left her to die in the car,” she said. “He’s going to do it again. This is probably not his first time and probably won’t be his last time.”

Anyone with information about what occurred or who the shooter might be is asked to call the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 863-298-6200 or Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-TIPS.MORE TOP STORIES