2 Violent Purse Snatches Happen 50 Miles Apart But Are Eerily Similar

MANHATTAN BEACH (CBSLA) -- The purse snatches happened days apart and 50 miles away.

But the similarities between a purse snatching in Manhattan Beach on Thursday and one in Montclair are striking.

Both incidents occurred during the day in parking lots. In both cases, a black male pushed the women to the ground or knocked them unconscious and in both cases the suspect fled in a silver-colored vehicle.

In Thursday's attack in Manhattan Beach, a regular church goer was mugged in the parking lot of American Martyrs Catholic Church and thrown to the ground.

Police want to catch this man. The 70-year-old victim was hurt badly and was hospitalized.

"I'm around here all the time, all the time," said one woman. "And I've never seen anything like this, here. It's shocking."

The suspect was in a black hoodie and he approached his victim from behind.

"There horrible criminals they are out there, that will get caught. They injured this lady, she's in the hospital right now. She's got some pretty significant injuries and she;s undergoing treatment as we speak," says Kristie Colombo of the Manhattan Beach Police Department.

The get-away car was described as a silver, four-door and possibly a BMW. Police say an accomplice drove the suspect to the location and waited around the corner to pick him up.

A similar car, also driven by an accomplice, committed the same purse snatch in a parking lot crime Wednesday, a day before the Manhattan Beach crime.

In Montclair, the suspect punched an 88-year-old woman in the face knocking her unconscious.