Second Acid Attack in a Week

INSIDE EDITION reports on the Arizona woman, Derri Velarde, who is the second victim of an acid attack in one week. Police believe she may have been the intended target of an individual who committed a copycat crime after a random acid attack against W

A perfect stranger threw a cup of acid in her face. It's the second horrifying acid attack on a woman by a woman in a week.

"It just instantly was like fire. It started burning," says 41-year old Derri Velarde of Mesa, Arizona.

Burns on her face neck and arms could have been worse, but because she was outside her home, she was able to jump in the shower and wash off the acid moments after the attack.

"She just stopped abruptly and looked at me and just threw it in my face," Velarde recounts.

The horrifying incident is chillingly similar to what happened to 28-year-old Bethany Storro 1,400 miles away in Vancouver, Washington.

Storro's attacker was also a woman, and a complete stranger. Both attackers lay in wait for their victims. Both attacks happened moments after they had parked their cars.

Criminal profiler Pat Brown tells INSIDE EDITION why the perpetrators may have attacked: "There are people out in our society who just want to get back at other people. People they feel have made it in society, that are doing better than them," she says. "[They might be thinking] 'Those pretty women, I'm not one of them, you think you're so much better than me, guess what I've got waiting for you around the corner.' "

Police issued a sketch of a suspect in the attack on Bethany Storro but have made no arrests.

A sketch of the suspect in Velarde's case has also been released.

Could the same attacker be responsible for the two incidents, or is it a copycat crime?  

"My gut instinct was copycat, however we have to make sure that absolutely there are no connections, I mean there's a long distance between the two crimes, [it's] unlikely to be the same person involved, masterminding both crimes," says Brown.