SANFORD, Fla. – A 72-year-old woman was walking out of a Walgreens store when a man snatched her purse right out of her cart.
It was terrifying, Jean Williams added. And the theft took place in a matter of seconds, she told News 6.
"It didn't take long,” Williams said. “He had known I was coming out, because I looked and he had already reached in the basket, over the stuff I had and grabbed it. Just a second and it was gone. The purse was gone.”
Walgreens surveillance video shows the exact second when the thief took off with the woman’s purse in hand.
Police released video Tuesday of the March 20 incident. Williams was leaving the drug store around 10:49 a.m. when the man -- wearing a brown shirt, beige pants and yellow construction boots -- grabbed her black purse and ran off, according to a news release from the Sanford Police Department.
"I was walking out the door and he was standing right there,” Williams said. “(He) just
grabbed it right there and went ... running down 25th Street.”
Williams said she believes the man was targeting her, keeping a close eye on her inside the store.
Just minutes before the attack, "The purse was like, in the buggy and it had stuff over it,” Williams said. “He just throwed the stuff over it and just pinned me so I couldn’t grab it.”
That's when, she said, she went back inside Walgreens.
"I said, ‘I just got robbed. He took my purse. He just took my purse,’” Williams said. “And they called 911 and police came.”
Officers were able to find Williams’ purse. The only thing missing was the cash she had inside.
Williams said now, she'll be more aware of the people around her.
She described the man as being in his early 20s, with dark hair.
Anyone with information is asked to call Sanford police at 407-688-5199 or Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS.