Robber Snatches Woman's Purse At Stanford Shopping Center: Police

PALO ALTO, CA – Police in Palo Alto are looking for an alleged robber said to have "ripped a purse away from a woman sitting at an outdoor table at Stanford Shopping Center Sunday morning," then running off with two associates. The victim, a woman in her 60s, reported the alleged purse-snatching incident to police at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 13.

She told police that about three hours earlier, as she sat at a table outside McDonald's with her purse in her hands, a man walked up to her and forcefully took her purse.

"The victim yelled at him to stop and tried to hang onto the purse, but the suspect wrenched it out of her hands and walked away," said Palo Alto police Capt. Zach Perron. "The suspect never said anything to the victim."

She told police the man immediately met up with two females, and that she decided to follow the trio at a distance as they walked through the mall before heading northbound on El Camino toward Menlo Park.

On Thursday, Palo Alto police released a mall security camera image of the alleged purse-snatcher and his two female associates in the hopes someone recognizes them.

The suspect was described by the victim as a 19- to 20-year-old black man with a thin build and about 6 feet tall, wearing a red-hooded sweatshirt. He was carrying a blue shopping bag, into which he allegedly placed the victim’s purse, police said.

The women he was with were also described as a black heavyset woman in her 20s and a black woman in her late teens or early 20s, police said.

The victim, whose purse contained her cellphone and other personal belongings, was not injured in the incident, Perron said.

Palo Alto police asked anyone with information about the incident to call their 24-hour dispatch center at
650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voicemail
to 650-383-8984.