A 65-year-old man was taken into custody Sunday afternoon after allegedly trying to strangle a woman in the parking lot of a Turlock shopping center.

The suspect was identified as Ediman Moosehekh, 65, of Turlock. He was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence and robbery.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday the Turlock Police Department received multiple calls stating a man was assaulting a woman in the parking lot of the Turlock Town Center in the 700 block of N. Golden State Boulevard.

The callers said the man had punched the woman and was putting his hand around her neck, according to the police report.

Citizens stepped in to stop the assault and remained there until police officers arrived. The investigation revealed Moosehekh and the 38-year-old woman had been in a dating relationship and the fight was over rent money.

The incident was reported at a time when all Turlock Police officers were responding to other high priority calls.

“Of special note for this call, is the fact that we had zero officers to send initially as they were all on other priority calls for service,” said Turlock Police spokesman Sgt. Russ Holeman. “Day shift, who were already preparing to go home for the day and who had unloaded their patrol vehicles, got back into their cars and went back into service to handle this potentially life-threatening call.”