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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Woman Punched in Face During Mugging Fears Her Modeling Dream Is Over

 Gwendolyn Reyes, 21, was violently mugged in Crown Heights on Oct. 2.
Gwendolyn Reyes Speaks Out
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CROWN HEIGHTS — Gwendolyn Reyes always dreamed of modeling  and moved from Georgia to her father’s Crown Heights home this summer to pursue that path.

But now she worries that dream will be ruined by "lasting damage" to her face from scars, stitches and a fractured nose she incurred after being punched, knocked down and dragged by three men during a robbery earlier this month.

“My whole life is style and modeling. That’s why I came to New York. I was starting to get my portfolio, getting my headshots ready,” Reyes, 21, told DNAinfo New York Wednesday — nearly three weeks after after the Oct. 2 assault outside a liquor store on Franklin Avenue.

“I’m never going to look the same, you know?" she added, her face still covered in visible cuts and bruises.

Her attackers — who remain at large — also fractured her nose, she said, and she's visiting a plastic surgeon this week to see if she’ll need surgery.

"I’m always going to … you know, be remembering what’s happened because of my face.”

During the encounter, three men approached Reyes, punching her multiple times and dragging her along the sidewalk, according to chilling surveillance video released by police. The suspects stole Reyes’ cell phone and purse with a MetroCard and about $5 inside, she said.

"Why? I don’t get it, " she said of the robbery. "Why are you pulling me so hard for my bag? Why did it have to take three men? It’s just so many questions that go through my mind. But the main one is just, 'Why?'”

Reyes and her mother, Melissa Feaster, met with the advocacy group Hispanics Across America on Wednesday outside the 77th Precinct to accept the organization’s contribution of $3,000 toward a reward for the arrest and capture of her attackers.

Feaster said when she first heard about the robbery from Reyes’ father, she didn’t realize how severe it had been.

“In my mind I said, you know, well maybe it was a teenage thing. I wouldn’t have even imagined it was three men,” she said.

But when Feaster saw the video of the attack this week, she came to New York to be with her daughter immediately.

“That’s when it kind of hit home,” she said.

Like Feaster, Hispanics Across America saw “the severity of the situation” and felt compelled to take action, said its executive director, Alfredo Sandoval.

“We had to raise this money for the arrest and capture of the three criminals who did this to this young lady,” he said. “We want a better, safer New York.”

Reyes said she always felt safe walking on Franklin Avenue, and in Crown Heights, before the attack — and says she still loves the neighborhood despite what happened.

“I honestly love Crown Heights," she said.

She also said she feels “blessed” for the support she’s received from those who’ve heard her story, like HAA.

“They don’t even have to know me, but they care about me and my well-being that much that they want to help me," she said. "And that, to me, is something you can’t even put into words. I’m just thankful.”

In addition to the surveillance video of the incident, police have released several photos of the suspects taken shortly after the attack showing two of the suspects walking toward the Franklin Avenue shuttle train wearing black sweatshirts.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging on to the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577.