VIDEO: Woman throws hot coffee in face of California doughnut shop owner

LOS ANGELES -- Surveillance video inside a Los Angeles doughnut shop captured the moment a woman threw hot coffee into the owner's face.

Screams and chaos erupted inside the shop after it happened. The Spudnuts owner, Cindy Seam-Kao, said her face still hurts, but she went back to work Saturday.

The frightening encounter happened Friday morning. A woman in the shop began wailing, causing another customer's young daughter to cry.

"I actually asked her to quiet down because she was scaring the girl, or leave, and she said 'eff you' and just threw the coffee at me," Seam-Kao said.

Employees and customers told the woman to leave and called the police. Seam-Kao said it's not the first time the woman has been in her shop.

"She's definitely homeless and mentally ill. So we've had her in here several times, but she's just yelled or she'll curse at somebody, but she's never been this violent," she said.

Seam-Kao said she has a number of homeless customers and believes everybody should be treated equally, but that this experience may cause her to be more cautious.

"This is kind of a hard situation to deal with when you feel compassion for people and it kind of backfires," she said.

The woman was able to get away, but will likely face serious charges if arrested.