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Police investigating three separate cases of purse snatching thief

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Police continue to investigate three separate incidents involving a purse snatching thief.

It happened during the day at three different grocery stores on Tuesday.

The first happened inside a Kroger on 4202 South East Street, the second inside a Marsh at 6965 West 38th Street, and the third in the parking lot of Aldi at 6835 South Emerson Avenue.

The victim in one of those cases said she is still shaken up by what happened. She said she noticed a man walking behind her, but didn’t think much of it.

She’s hoping others will learn from her experience, that you can never be too aware of your surroundings.

The 62-year-old victim said she went to the Kroger on South East Street to pick up a couple of things for her brother.

She didn’t think she would walk out of the store empty-handed.

“You know I had seen this fellow come in behind me, but I had no idea that he was going to rip me off,” said the victim, who didn’t want to be identified.

The victim said she was by the floral section, picking something up from the ground when the man snatched her purse.

“I was screaming my head off. He’s got my purse! He’s got my purse!” said the victim. “It was pretty really scary.”

The victim said an employee heard her cry for help and chased after the suspect, but he got away.

“I was shaking. I was just scared to death. I’m lucky I wasn’t hurt and no one in that was hurt.”

It was just last month when police said a Good Samaritan was stabbed while trying to stop a purse snatching thief at the same location. Police caught the suspect in that case.

The victim now is hoping for the same outcome.

“I just hope we catch him and I hope they catch a lot of other ones because it’s just not fair to people that are hardworking and trying to do the right thing,” said the victim.

Police are still reviewing the surveillance video and have not released a suspect description in this case.

Police said the suspect descriptions are different in at least two of the incidents.

In the second incident at 6965 W. 38th Street, the 67-year-old victim had just walked into the grocery store when the suspect reached and grabbed her purse.

The victim told 24-Hour News 8 she fell backwards when he did that and hit her shoulder on the rail inside the door.

She described the suspect as a black man. He was last seen wearing a dark jacket, a black shirt with a white shirt underneath, black pants, black sneakers, and a black knit cap.

In the third incident at 6835 South Emerson Avenue, the 44-year-old victim told police her purse was sitting in the basket of the shopping cart when the suspect grabbed it. She fought back.

She didn’t want to go on camera, but told 24-Hour News 8 he told her, “I believe this is mine” before taking her purse.

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