Crime & Safety
Palo Alto Robber Snatches Woman's Purse at Shopping Center
The suspect fled in a waiting vehicle and remains at large.
PALO ALTO, CA -- Police are searching for a man who ripped a purse off of a woman’s shoulder as she walked to her parked car at the Stanford Shopping Center over the weekend.
At about 6:21 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 7, the PAPD's 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a woman reporting she had just been robbed at the Stanford Shopping Center at 180 El Camino Real. The suspect had fled the area in a waiting vehicle just prior to police arrival.
Police say the woman, who was in her forties, was walking alone to her car, which was parked on the first floor of the parking garage on the south side of the shopping center. A vehicle pulled up next to her, and a man got out of the front passenger seat. The man grabbed the victim’s purse off of her shoulder. She held onto the strap and tried to pull it back, but he was able to rip the purse away from her. He returned to the vehicle, which then left southbound through the parking garage towards Quarry Road. The purse contained her wallet, but not her cel. phone.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The victim was not physically injured.
The victim described the suspect as a Hispanic male in his twenties or thirties. He was wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled tight around his face. He was also wearing dark-colored pants. He was not armed with a weapon. The victim described the suspect vehicle as a black small coupe or sedan, but an independent witness described it as a black sports utility vehicle. The victim reported that there were three other people in the vehicle, all similarly aged and also Hispanic. Two were men, and there was a woman in the back seat.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the PAPD's 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.
Tips can also be submitted anonymously through our free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.
Image via Palo Alto Police
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
