Police are investigating a robbery that occurred Wednesday evening in Palo Alto, where an unknown suspect robbed a woman of her purse as she sat in her car in the driveway of her home. The victim was not physically injured.
On Wednesday, February 7, 2024 at about 8:09 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call reporting a robbery that had just occurred in the 700 block of De Soto Drive. Police responded immediately but did not locate the suspect.
The victim, a woman in her sixties, reported that the suspect had approached her while she was sitting in her car in the driveway of her home, using her phone. The suspect came to the rolled-up window of the driver’s door. The suspect yelled at the victim to give him her phone and purse. While he did this, the suspect had one hand under his sweatshirt and appeared to pointing something at her. The victim assumed it was a gun, though one was not seen. The victim handed over her phone and purse. The suspect fled on foot northbound on De Soto Drive. The victim went to a neighbor’s home and called police.
Police conducted a thorough search of the neighborhood using both a canine team from the Menlo Park Police Department and a helicopter from the San José Police Department. Officers located the victim’s phone discarded in the area and returned it to the victim after processing it for fingerprints. The victim’s purse and its contents remain outstanding.
The victim described the suspect as a Black male adult in his twenties, about 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall, with a thin build. The victim said he was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, and a neck scarf that covered the bottom of his face such that only his eyes were visible. Detectives are actively investigating the case.
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.
