GILBERT, Ariz. -- A 21-year-old woman three months pregnant attacked a suspected purse snatcher with a pocketknife as he fought with her on a dark Gilbert sidewalk, police said.

Investigators said the man, Filemon Del Hoyo, 22, was transported to Scottsdale Osborne Hospital with severe lacerations.

Officers said the ordeal began as the woman was walking home from an Applebee's restaurant near Gilbert Road and Baseline Road around 12:40 a.m. Thursday.

She told police she noticed a vehicle in a parking lot that looked suspicious by the way it was parked.

"There was a guy kind of hidden in the bushes," she said.

"It looked like he had something," the victim said.

Police said Del Hoyo ran towards her and asked for a cigarette.

"I pulled knife out and pulled the blade open," she told CBS 5 News.

"He asked me if I had a phone. I just kept walking," she said.

Moments later, officers said he grabbed her arm.

"I had my arm through my purse. He put his arm through the purse and he was pulling me while swinging at me with his other arm," she said.

The woman said she started swinging her knife.

"I felt like after I had slashed so many times that he still wouldn't let go. I felt like he was after more than my purse," she said.

Needing the rent money in her purse, the woman said she wouldn't give up.

"I was in fear for my life and my child," she said.

Finally, one last slashing and the injured and bleeding man ran to a getaway vehicle. The woman, still clutching her purse, followed and was able to get a license plate number.

Minutes after calling 911, officers located the vehicle in the area of 8th Street and Gilbert Road in Mesa. Del Hoyo was taken into custody at the scene and rushed to the hospital.

Investigators said they are working to determine whether or not Del Hoyo is affiliated with any criminal street gangs.

The woman said she is now rethinking baby names.

"Definitely going to be a hero baby," she said.

"That's what kept me fighting, knowing that it wasn't just me," the woman said.

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