TACOMA, Wash. — A 90-year-old woman was hospitalized after she was assaulted and robbed in a grocery store parking lot in Tacoma in an attack that was caught on camera.
The attack happened in the Fred Meyer lot at South 72nd Street and Pacific Avenue at 5:10 p.m. on Tuesday.
Surveillance video obtained by KIRO 7 Eyewitness News shows a white SUV pulling into the lot with at least two people inside.
Police said when the two spotted her, they stalked her and waited for the right moment to attack.
The video shows a man approaching while the 90-year-old was putting groceries in the trunk of her car.
“(He) approached her, pushed her out of the way down to the ground, and grabbed her purse,” said Tacoma Police Officer Mark Fulgham.
The man then returned to the SUV after getting the victim’s purse.
She suffered a head injury and a broken hip, and is recovering at Tacoma General Hospital. Police initially said the woman had suffered a broken arm, as well, but a source told KIRO 7 on Thursday that wasn't the case.
Police said she never got a good look at her assailant, and they're hoping someone at the Fred Meyer on that day may remember seeing the incident or the SUV.
“Anybody that might have been out there that saw this SUV or may recognize something about it, or saw the suspect coming and going from it; there were people helping afterward. We’d like to talk to them and see what they could tell us,” said Fulgham.
Tacoma police said there have been similar purse snatchings and strong-arm robberies in the area where this one took place, but it's not clear if they are related.