Purse-Snatcher Attacks 2 At Mall

Two women were attacked outside Franklin Park Mall Saturday afternoon by a man who demanded their purses.

Police said the man was waiting in one woman’s car outside Montgomery Ward about 12:45 p.m. when he attacked her. A few minutes later he attacked a second woman as she walked outside the mall.

The man displayed a knife when he demanded the first woman’s purse. After turning it over to him, the woman scared him away by screaming and honking her car horn.

About five minutes later, another woman walking outside the mall was attacked. Police believe the attacker was the same man involved in the earlier incident.

The second victim told police the man took her purse, but did not show a weapon.

Both victims - who escaped uninjured - described the man as thin, between 16 and 20 years old and about 5-foot-6. He was wearing a blue ski jacket and had a scarf pulled over his face.

, DataTimes