When they heard the screaming in the hallway, Colin Goodwin and one of his neighbours both assumed the woman making all the noise was the one who needed rescuing.

Then the supposed victim attacked them both, inflicting bruises, scrapes and cuts on Goodwin and stabbing his neighbour.

Goodwin, a retired pilot, was settling in for the night with his wife Lorene. They were preparing to watch a television drama about Winston Churchill when they heard a female voice yelling for help.

Then someone pulled the fire alarm in the 14-year-old 22-storey highrise residence on West Whalley Ring Road, locking down all the elevators in the building.

It was around 1:22 a.m. on Tuesday.

By then, Goodwin and his neighbour across the hall had opened their doors to see a skinny black-haired woman in a black jacket and toque wrestling with a man who was trying to get into her purse.

He was shouting something about her taking his cellphone.

She was yelling back that the man had given her the phone.

Goodwin grabbed the man by his shirt and dragged him away.

"Calm down," Goodwin said.

The woman kept swearing and yelling.

"We're out here to help you," Goodwin told her.

"You're not helping me," she yelled.

"I want out of this f---ing building."

She made an attempt to punch and kick the man, which was when Goodwin suffered his bruises.

Goodwin could see the man he was now trying to protect had suffered a deep bite to one forearm.

Then Goodwin's neighbour tried to walk the woman away, escorting her down a stairwell to meet police.

Goodwin stayed with the man.

A few floors down, the woman attacked the neighbour with a knife, stabbing him in the groin.

By then RCMP had arrived and the woman was arrested at the scene.

The neighbour was rushed to hospital and is expected to recover.

"She turned on both of us," Goodwin told The Leader Thursday.

The knife was recovered by police.

A 47-year-old woman is facing possible charges of assault with a weapon and aggravated assault, police said.

It's believed alcohol and drugs played a part.

Anyone with information about the matter is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or if you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

newsroom@surreyleader.com