An image of the suspect was captured as he swung his hammer at the surveillance camera.

FORT WORTH - Lucia Milan said she is just grateful she is alive after she was attacked with a hammer Saturday afternoon at her family's store where she was working alone.

At 1:15 p.m., a man came into the store in the 1900 block of College Avenue, pulled out a hammer and began swinging at the 20-year-old clerk.

"It was like he was showing it to me, like give me the money or else," she said. "He just started beating me with it."

Milan was hit over and over by the hammer.

"While he was hitting me on the head, he was screaming, 'Where's the money? Give me the money. I want the money,'" she said.

As he was hitting her, Milan said she said she would give him money if he quit his assault.

But as the man walked away as she yelled back, he then returned.

"I just tried to stay as conscious as I could," she said. "I was thinking I needed to get out of here."

The robber turned his rage to the security camera after he couldn't break into the cash register drawer, which not only captured an image of his face, but gave Milan time to escape.

Milan said her attacker wore a Texas Longhorns cap, had a blonde mustache and she believes he has blue eyes.

"He's a vile creature," her father said. "He's a slime ball."

The attack left the college student and private in the Army Reserve with stitches, bruises, cuts and a broken hand.

"Right now, I'm just looking up to God to thank God him I'm alive," she said.