Purse Snatchings Reported
A flurry of attempted parking-lot purse snatchings were reported on the North Side between Tuesday, Oct. 6, and Saturday.
Spokane police are looking for a man involved in two purse snatchings in two different supermarket parking lots, said police spokesman Dick Cottam.
On Oct. 6, the man walked up behind a woman outside Yokes, 210 E. North Foothills, just before noon.
He attempted to grab her purse, but a good Samaritan intervened and prevented the man from stealing the purse, police said. The suspect ran to a black Honda CRX with an Idaho plate and escaped, according to witnesses.
The following day, a man believed to be the same suspect knocked an 85-year-old woman to the ground at 5:40 p.m. in the Safeway parking lot at 933 E. Mission.
He pulled a shopping cart onto the woman, but she held on to her purse and the man finally ran to a waiting vehicle and escaped. The car was the same black, 1988 Honda, Idaho license plates K 142186. Police said the car is stolen.
The suspect is described as a Hispanic male in his 20s. He is about 5-feet-7 to 5-feet-10-inches tall, 200 pounds with very short black hair.
Later, during the weekend, two women reported their purses stolen in separate robberies.
At 8:30 p.m. on Friday, another victim told police a man in his 20s grabbed her purse in the Gino’s restaurant parking lot at 1414 N. Hamilton.
He ran east on Sinto then through Mission Park, police reported.
She described the suspect as a white male, 5-feet-11inches tall, 170-pounds, with dark clothing and a knit cap.
At 3 p.m. on Saturday, a woman was placing groceries into her truck in the Safeway parking lot at 1616 W. Northwest Boulevard, according to Cottam.
She said a man walked up and demanded her purse. When she hesitated, he pulled the purse from her shoulder and ran to a nearby car driven by a companion and escaped.
The robber was described as a clean-cut, white male in his 20s, 5-feet-11-inches tall, 190-pounds, wearing blue jeans. The dark blue car, possibly a ‘90s-model Trans Am with tinted windows, went south on Ash Street. The driver was also a white male.
Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.
Slight increase in burglaries reported
There have been 2,380 reported burglaries in the city of Spokane after the first nine months of the year, according to the police’s crime analysis department.
Last year, 3,300 burglaries were reported through 12 months. Through the first nine months of 1997, 2,110 burglaries were reported, said police spokesman Dick Cottam.
There were 3,000 reported burglaries in 1996.
“We don’t know why there’s been an increase,” Cottam said. However, he did say many residents report leaving garage doors open and house and apartment doors unlocked.
Also, though it’s just outside the city limits, the Linwood neighborhood saw a rash of burglaries during the month of September.
Cottam said there were 15 reported burglaries in the Linwood neighborhood last month.
Police ask for help in alleged drive-by shooting
Spokane Police received a report of a drive-by shooting at 4 a.m., Saturday morning.
An officer stopped a car speeding on Indiana near North Center. The driver and passengers reported driving north on Napa south of Mission a few minutes earlier, Cottam said.
They said a 1972, baby blue Cadillac with its right-front hubcap missing fired three shots at their vehicle. No one was hit and the driver said he sped away, police said.
The victims said they couldn’t see anyone in the other car because its windows were tinted. Officers found no evidence in the area of where the shooting occurred.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.