St. Paul Police: Man Breaks SUV Window To Steal Purse
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- St. Paul police are asking for the public's help to identify the criminal who was filmed breaking the window of a woman's SUV and stealing her purse in broad daylight.
The crime occurred Thursday afternoon on University Avenue near Virginia Street. The victim went inside a business, and the criminal began walking past the SUV several times. Seven minutes after the victim left, the man used a tool to break her front passenger-side window, and then quickly grabbed her purse and ran away. The woman came out several minutes later to find the aftermath.
"The victim here didn't do anything wrong," said St. Paul Police Spokesperson Steve Linders. "But it's a good lesson for us all to never keep valuables in your car unattended. This is a crime of opportunity, and one of the easiest ways to prevent that is to remove the opportunity."
Police say the thief is a white man who is between 25 and 30 years old, with a slender build and a "scruffy" beard. He was wearing a blue-hooded sweatshirt, dark-blue jeans, a stocking cap with a black top and white bottom that features text, and a red backpack.
Anyone with information on this man is urged to call police at 651-266-5959.