Woman robbed at gunpoint in Wal-Mart parking lot
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“She was just coming out of the store after shopping for about half an hour and saw him running and at first thought he was a jogger,” said McMinnville Police Investigator Barry Powers who interviewed the victim. “Then he came up and whipped out a gun and demanded her purse.”
The robbery happened around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on what is known as the grocery side parking lot of Wal-Mart where it borders the nearby Cardinal Drive neighborhood. The parking lot was filled to capacity at the time with after-Christmas shoppers; however, the victim’s vehicle was parked in the side lot, partly obscured from the main front parking lot but still in range of security cameras.
According to the victim, the man pulled the pistol and pointed at her, demanding her purse. The woman, who was accompanied by her young daughter, complied, handing him the purse. The man then ran toward Cardinal Drive, tripping and falling in the shrubbery which separates the parking lot from the street. He then disappeared up the hill as the woman ran the opposite direction with her daughter to report the robbery.
“We’re still viewing surveillance tape and we believe we will have some evidence on it,” Powers said, noting the man is described as a short white male standing about 5-foot-7. “Neither the victim or her daughter were hurt.”
Powers admitted the armed mugging is unusual in that he could recall no prior armed robberies in the parking lot, one which was even more busy than normal for a Tuesday given the post Christmas sales.