Police looking for man who snatched elderly woman's purse

By HECTOR CASTRO
P-I REPORTER

Investigators are looking for help in locating a man who shoved an 86-year-old woman to the ground before making off with her purse earlier this week.

King County sheriff's detectives have very little to go on and only a vague description of the purse snatcher. "Not much to go on," Sgt. John Urquhart said.

The robbery happened around 2 a.m. Tuesday at South 152nd Street and International Boulevard in SeaTac.

The victim had just disembarked from Metro bus 174 when she was confronted by a man who ordered her to give him her purse. When she refused, the man pushed the woman to the ground and ripped her purse away.
The woman lost her purse, her driver's license and her checkbook. She suffered scrapes and bruises to her knees, forearms and head.

She told detectives the man may have been on the bus with her. The victim was traveling from her North Seattle home to visit her 92-year-old sister in SeaTac when she got lost changing buses in downtown and ended up riding the bus later than she had planned.

Urquhart said the woman and her older sister have been victimized before. Just last year, the two lost more than $20,000 in a roofing scam, he aid.

Investigators made an arrest in that case.

Anyone with information about this purse snatching is urged to contact the sheriff's office at 206-296-3311.