COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. (WTVR) -- If you knocked on her door today, she probably would not answer. A 91-year-old woman said she opened the door to the wrong person last week and became the victim of a violent crime.
"I thought it was one of my neighbors because I had just come from the bank and I was talking to my neighbor in the driveway," the 91-year-old told CBS 6 senior reporter Wayne Covil. "I couldn't understand what he was saying, so I opened the storm door. That's when he grabbed the door, took my wrists and pushed me down."
The woman, who asked not to be identified, said the man then grabbed her purse and ran out of the home.
Police said they believed the man watched the 91-year old walk home from the bank and targeted her when she arrived at her house.
"I'm just glad that he did not break an arm or a leg or cut me or something like that," she said.
When Colonial Heights Police responded to the woman's home, they told neighbors to be on the lookout for the suspect. Soon thereafter, one neighbor saw something suspicious.
"I seen the guy come outside of the dumpster area [of a nearby restaurant] and get into his car," the neighbor, who also did not want to be identified, said. "I figured something didn't seem right about that."
That neighbor called police and within minutes, police had a suspect in custody.
Ricardo Edward Thompson, Jr., 21, of South Chesterfield (PHOTO: Colonial Heights Police)
Ricardo Edward Thompson, Jr., 21, of South Chesterfield, is charged with robbery and burglary. He is being held in Riverside Regional Jail without bond.
The judge issued a protective ordered that would keep Thompson and his family away from the 91-year-old woman should the suspect be released from jail.
Police urged people to be aware of their surroundings to help avoid being a victim.
"If you have a gut feeling that something is out of place, let someone know," Colonial Heights Police Sgt. Rob Ruxer said.
Ruxer added to never open your door to strangers.
That is advice the 91-year old echoed.
"I would tell them not to open the door... for anybody," she said.
