2 elderly women mugged heading to Bronx church speak out
WOODLAWN, Bronx (WABC) -- Disturbing video shows two elderly women as they were mugged on their way to church in the Bronx.
The two victims, longtime friends in their 70s, walking to a funeral mass along Martha Avenue in Woodlawn around 5 p.m. Tuesday when the suspect pulled up in a blue SUV.
He walked up to the women, threw one, Mary Griffin, to the ground and stole her purse.
"Why don't you be like my son and grow up and get a job and stop doing this to people? Stop doing it, whatever your reason is, stop doing it. He must have a mom somewhere that you know, tried to bring you up the right way," Griffin said.
Griffin's friend, who did not want to be identified, jumped in, hitting the man with her umbrella.
"I took a step towards them, and I had an open umbrella, and I swung it at him, and I hit him with the umbrella, but an open umbrella does nothing to anybody. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that," the friend said. "He just took a step towards the street, grabbed my friend's purse and off he went."
The suspect threw her to the ground as well.
"I'm angry," said Stephen Griffin, the victim's son. "They pick on the elderly all the time. Now it's the M.O. Just angry, very."
Both women were taken to the hospital but are now recovering at home.
The ladies thanked everyone in their neighborhood who heard their screams and ran out of their homes to help.
The individual is described as 18 to 20 years old, 140 pounds and 5'6." He was last seen wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with a white logo on his chest, tan pants and brown boots.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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