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88-year-old purse snatching victim has message for couple that robbed her outside Henrico store

Posted at 11:43 PM, Nov 05, 2015
and last updated 2015-11-05 23:46:38-05

HENRICO POLICE, Va. -- Police are searching for a man and woman after they allegedly robbed an 88-year-old woman in a Martin’s parking lot Wednesday afternoon.

The family of an elderly woman told CBS 6 they may have been sympathetic if the thieves swiped her purse to buy food because they were starving.

But a police source tells CBS 6 reporter Jon Burkett, the middle-aged muggers went TV shopping at Target.

According to police, the elderly woman was robbed in the parking lot of the Martin’s along the 10100 block of Brook Road.

"I was putting groceries in my car," she told CBS 6 Thursday. "He said, ‘Put your head down, put your head down.’ I tried turning around.  He reached over my shoulder, and when he saw the purse, he grabbed it and ran off."

Surveillance images of the two suspects are from a Target store a half-hour away in Short Pump. That's where police sources said the great grandmother's credit card was used to buy a TV.

"Pretty sad you go after an 88-year-old woman,” said Jean St. Amand, who was shopping at Martin’s Thursday.

The victim told said at first she thought it was a joke, possibly someone that knew her, because she shops almost every day at that Martin’s.  But she quickly realized how serious her predicament was.  "I felt him grab my arms from behind me," she said.

Police are looking for these suspects in the victims robbery.

She said if she had to do it all over again, she'd strike the crook with a gallon of milk she bought.

The great grandma said the purse-snatching and attack, will not ruin her independence.  She said once the crooks are caught, she’d like to ask them some questions.

"I'd like to face him and ask why he did that to me,” she said. “I don't know him. I never met him and wouldn't hurt him."

Police said the suspects were in a silver two-door Honda Accord with a sunroof. The woman walked with a gait and used a motorized cart while shopping at Target.

Anyone with information about the couple was asked to call Henrico Police at 804-501-5000 or Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.

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