By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice
On May 11, 2024, at Nordstrom Rack in Lakewood, Colorado, Michelle Chandler caught a man filming her inside a women’s fitting room. She didn’t freeze or panic. Instead, she confronted him, pinned him to the ground and held him until help arrived – or so she thought.
What happened next wasn’t the swift arrival of justice. It was abandonment: by store employees, by security and later, by a system more concerned with procedure than protection.
Chandler’s story quickly gained attention when she posted about it on Instagram. Social media influencers – including David Harris Jr. posted about the video. Local radio and National news outlets reached out to cover the story. And strangers from Canada to Europe responded, showing their support.
But behind the viral headlines is a deeper story of trauma, faith and resilience—and a quiet army of women who still don’t know they were victims that day.
A deeper personal journey
Chandler was shopping for clothes ahead of Mother’s Day when she noticed a phone angled toward her from beneath the adjacent fitting room partition. She acted immediately.
“I saw his phone… his camera lens was pointed right at me… I was just like, is this really happening?”
Moving quietly, she drew closer to see if her instincts were correct. That’s when the young man tried to bolt into another fitting room, and Chandler grabbed his sweatshirt, pinned him to the floor and said, “You’re not going anywhere.”
Store employees briefly rushed to assist. As the struggle continued and Chandler held him in a headlock, two male Nordstrom Rack employees tried to restrain him—until management ordered them to stop.
“They put me back in harm’s way.”
Management informed the employees they were required to remove themselves from the situation, citing corporate policy – and told Chandler “if you want to hold him until police arrive that’s up to you.” Chandler was left alone with the suspect until police finally arrived 30 minutes after the call for help
For Chandler, the moment was more than a physical confrontation. It was a mirror of deeper battles she had faced throughout her life.
“It was a picture of my life… struggling, and crying out – but no one is coming.”
The experience brought into sharp focus the resilience Chandler had built after surviving childhood molestation, marital struggles, recent loss of her adoptive father and birthmother to cancer – and the pain of being the product of rape.
Her mother’s decision to carry her pregnancy to term, despite impossible circumstances, shaped Chandler’s unwavering belief in the sanctity of life.
The journey of her life at that point had led to a path of recovery from alcohol – a story she had only recently begun to speak about publicly.
An investigation that failed victims
The aftermath of the incident revealed serious failures that extended beyond the walls of Nordstrom Rack.
The Lakewood Police Department failed to secure Nordstrom’s surveillance footage immediately after the event. By the time prosecutors followed up, the store’s video had been deleted. Any opportunity to cross-reference footage and identify other potential victims was lost.
Despite that gap, evidence retrieved from the suspect’s phone by the crime lab uncovered a darker truth. Prosecutors discovered that Gonzales had filmed at least four to five other women inside the fitting rooms on the same day. At least one woman had been filmed indecently.
“Lakewood PD didn’t get surveillance video, and now it’s gone.”
“There’s three others, and who knows if there were more. One of these women was indecent and she has no clue [that she was being recorded].”
The 6 additional charges (2 counts per Jane Doe) stemming from that evidence were filed in October 2024, months after the initial incident. Yet none of the other victims have ever been identified, contacted, or given a chance to seek justice.
For Chandler, bearing that knowledge has been an invisible burden.
“I’m carrying that weight for myself and these other women. I’m the only one that has a voice and knowledge of this.”
As she prepares to speak at Gonzales’ sentencing on May 14, she reflects not only on her own case but on the broader culture that allowed it to happen.
A legislative environment making it worse
Chandler points to a growing trend in Colorado’s state legislature, where radical gender ideology is increasingly prioritized over parental rights, personal safety and biological protections for women and girls.
Lawmakers advanced several measures in 2025 that reflect this broader shift.
Among them is House Bill 25-1312, known as the ‘Kelly Loving Act,’ which would broaden Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws to cover gender identity and expression in public places, schools and courtrooms. Critics warn the bill would make it even harder to maintain women-only spaces or defend parental rights.
Other bills passed this year, such as House Bill 25-1109, now require death certificates to list an individual’s self-declared gender identity rather than only biological sex.
Senate Resolution 25-008 officially designated March 31 as “Transgender Day of Visibility” and pledged ongoing support for expanded transgender rights in healthcare, education and housing.
Meanwhile, legislation aimed at protecting parental rights and youth safety was defeated.
House Bill 25-1068, which proposed letting malpractice insurers deny coverage to providers offering gender-transition procedures to minors, was voted down in committee.
Another measure, House Bill 25-1145, aimed to categorize bringing minors into Colorado for gender-affirming care as a form of human trafficking, but it too was shelved indefinitely.
House Bill 25-1254 sought to extend the statute of limitations for minors harmed by gender-transition treatments, giving them more time to pursue legal accountability – it too was defeated.
Against this backdrop, Chandler’s call for restoring basic protections for women and children rings even louder. Her motive is not revenge, but accountability and prevention.
She hopes the sentencing will reflect the seriousness of what happened and the urgent need to protect others. For Chandler, she says, “I believe there’s purpose from the pain.”
Moving forward with a mission
The experience also stirred something larger in her. After her story went viral, Chandler was flooded with messages from women across the country sharing their own experiences – women from Nevada, Montana, California, Alaska – and Colorado.
Among them were stories of being filmed in fitting rooms, attacked in locker rooms, or seeking justice from assaults (rape) that went unanswered. Out of this groundswell, Chandler is considering founding a nonprofit focused on healing, advocacy and restoring safe spaces for women.
Chandler envisions a future where women no longer carry their pain in isolation, but find strength in shared stories, a place where she says, “Your story becomes our story.”
Despite the betrayal she felt from Nordstrom Rack, a few employees did check in with her quietly after the event, expressing gratitude for her courage and concern over the company’s silence.
Chandler, a once loyal customer who spent several thousands of dollars over the years, has never received so much as a phone call from Nordstrom’s corporate office since the day she restrained her attacker.
In the aftermath of the assault, Chandler also made the decision to forgo financial restitution she would have been legally entitled to claim for counseling services. Instead, she chose to waive her rights, hoping such money would go toward rehabilitative efforts for the defendant, a reflection of her faith and commitment to true accountability.
Chandler is determined to turn her personal pain into lasting protection for others – her resilience unwavering.
Readers who want to connect with or follow her updates can find her on Instagram at @michandler5.