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A 76-year-old woman was attacked near Dundas Square on August 24, 2013. The woman's nose was severed and later re-attached.Adrien Veczan/The Canadian Press

In a brazen daylight attack, a woman had her nose severed by an apparent stranger in a busy downtown Toronto shopping district Saturday, police said.

The 76-year-old was transferring from the streetcar to the subway at Dundas station on her way home at about 1:30 p.m. As she rode an elevator down from Dundas Square, the man assaulted her, cutting off her nose, then fled.

Toronto police told the Globe they have had no indication of what prompted the attack, and that it seemed to be random. It is not known what weapon the suspect used.

Doctors re-attached the woman's nose and she had been released from hospital by Sunday afternoon, they said.

Investigators are still waiting on surveillance footage. They said the suspect is between 40 and 60-years-old, and five-foot-six to five-foot-eight inches tall. It is not known what direction he went when he fled the scene.

With a report from the Canadian Press

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