Police are investigating an attempted robbery case that occurred yesterday morning, where the suspect unsuccessfully attempted to pull a purse away from an elderly female victim. The victim was not physically injured and the suspect is at large.
On Monday, October 9, 2023, at about 2:05 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a woman in her seventies reporting a robbery attempt that had occurred around 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 2800 block of Middlefield Road.
The investigation revealed that the victim had been sitting in her vehicle with the driver’s door open. A male suspect approached her, grabbed the strap of her purse, and demanded she give it to him. The victim held onto the purse while activating a panic alarm on her keychain. The noise scared off the would-be robber, who fled on foot southbound on Middlefield Road. The victim was not physically injured and did not lose any property.
The victim described the suspect as a white male between 18 and 22 years of age, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 175 pounds. She said he had brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a black face covering, a blue hooded sweatshirt, and ripped blue jeans. If the victim is able to work with a police artist to produce a sketch of the suspect, we will release it as soon as possible.
Detectives are actively investigating this case. There have been no similar cases reported to police recently in Palo Alto.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to [email protected] or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.
