Police are following a number of
”
good
”
leads in their hunt for a purse snatcher who has struck each
local Safeway store in the past month, including a robbery Saturday
evening.
Police are following a number of “good” leads in their hunt for a purse snatcher who has struck each local Safeway store in the past month, including a robbery Saturday evening.
In the meantime, the store has responded by installing more surveillance cameras and adding security personnel to watch for suspicious activity. Female shoppers are ever vigilant when they go to the store alone, even in daylight hours as that’s when both recent purse thefts took place.
“As a woman, you’re more vulnerable. You should be aware of your surroundings at all times, because people are desperate for money in this economy,” said Rose, a 65-year-old Morgan Hill woman who declined to give her last name. She was shopping at the Safeway store at 840 East Dunne Ave. Thursday morning.
The latest incident occurred about 5:50 p.m. Saturday at the store on Tennant Avenue. An unknown male approached a 39-year-old woman from behind as she was pushing a cart entering the store, police said. The suspect grabbed her purse, which was in the cart, and ran into an awaiting vehicle occupied by a driver and a passenger.
The car, a black Toyota Solaris, left in the direction of the intersection of Tennant Avenue and U.S. 101.
The same group of men is responsible for a July 8 purse snatching at the Safeway store on East Dunne Avenue, police believe. That incident happened about 1:08 p.m., when an unknown man matching the description of the thief in the latest incident ran up to a 72-year-old woman from behind as she was walking from the store to her car.
The man grabbed her purse and fled into an awaiting vehicle containing a driver, and police later determined the vehicle had been stolen from the San Jose area. That vehicle was ditched in the area of San Ramon Drive and San Pedro Avenue just south of Morgan Hill, where the suspects entered another car and got away, police said.
“The two (purse snatchings) that occurred here are very similar. The suspects have the same M.O.,” said Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Jerry Neumayer.
Local police are working with other law enforcement agencies in the region where similar incidents have occurred and are being investigated.
The suspected purse grabber in both incidents is described as Hispanic, in his 20s, about 5-feet, 10-inches tall and 210 to 225 pounds.
Police did not reveal the value of any cash or property that was stolen in the incidents.
The stores’ corporate officials have responded to the series of crimes, which includes a trio of violent assaults on random women that occurred in March, by employing more private security guards who patrol both the interior and parking lots at both stores. They have also installed more video surveillance cameras both inside and outside the stores, according to Susan Houghton, Director of Public Affairs for Safeway.
The store has also been working closely with police, asking for and implementing their advice to heighten security, Houghton added.
“It’s a situation we are taking very seriously. We want our customers to be safe while they shop at Safeway,” she said.
Shopper Rose added that the store’s staff will accompany customers to their cars as they leave the store if asked, and she recommends that female solo shoppers do so.
No suspects have been identified in the assaults that happened at both stores earlier this year, but police have not reported any additional violent crimes on the properties since the last one March 26. In those incidents, an unknown man followed women as they were leaving the stores and entered or tried to enter the back seat of their cars as the women got into the driver’s seat. In one of the crimes, the man used a stun gun to electrically shock the woman, who he also hit at least once with his fists.
An octogenarian shopper said Thursday she hopes that because she can park close to the front door as a disabled driver, that will make her victimization less likely. But she is still dismayed by the recent events.
“It’s terrible, this kind of crime in this little town,” said Marian Blair, a 40-year resident of Uvas Road.
