An 81-year-old El Cerrito woman was found beaten and possibly sexually assaulted Saturday at about 9:15 a.m. in Richmond,  said Richmond Police Lt. Bisa French said.

Employees at Big O Tires were opening up the store when they saw the woman and called police, French said.

Officers responded to the 10700 block of San Pablo Avenue and found the woman, who French said was in critical condition.

The Big O Tires manager, Art Ochoa, said when he first saw the woman he thought she was a homeless person sleeping outside his store.

He then discovered it was a woman in her 80s who was badly beaten.
"As soon as I called 911...the police showed up within minutes because (the station's) just down the street," Ochoa said.

Ochoa arrived at work at 7:30 a.m. but didn't discover the woman until about 9 a.m. He asked if she needed help and all she could do was nod.

"She didn't talk to me at all, because as soon as I saw her she just had blood everywhere," he said.

"Officers arrived, made contact with the female, who was able to at that point give her name and information," French said.

The manager said the woman was wearing a white coat that was bloodied allegedly from her attack and he noticed her eyes swollen shut.

Police said they weren't sure if she was robbed.

Anthony Ovitz, who works along San PabloAvenue, came to investigate for himself after he saw police rope off part of a parking lot.

"Since it's real busy and stuff you wouldn't expect anything like this to happen," Ovitz said.

The woman lives near where the apparent attack took place. She is known to take morning walks and attend church a few blocks from where she was found.

"It's an ugly feeling when you see things like this happen as a result of bad people," Ovitz said.

Investigators said they don't know when the attack happened and they are talking to family members and neighbors.

No information on an alleged attacker was available as of Saturday afternoon.