Jacksonville teen says woman snatched her purse in Walmart parking lot

An 18-year-old says a woman pulled up in a car next to her at a Jacksonville Walmart and snatched her purse as she loaded groceries into her car Friday.

She tells Action News Jax that she was hungry after getting off work around 11 p.m. Friday, so she went to the Walmart on Beach and Hodges boulevards for groceries.

“There’s this car that pulls up behind me,” she said. “I turned around and apologized for being in their way and said, ‘Oh sorry,’ and smiled at them.”

The teen says the red, four-door sedan parked in a spot next to her car.

She said she unlocked her car and opened the back door to load the groceries.

“I put my purse back in the buggy,” she said. “The moment I turned around, I heard a noise and I was like, I know this lady just took my purse.”

She said she saw the woman run to her car with her purse in her hand.

“She left her window down so I pretty much jumped through the window of her car,” she said. “She put her car in drive and sped off and I pretty much got dragged with her car.”

The teen says she was parked by surveillance cameras, but police told her they didn’t capture video of the license plate.

“It’s very scary, especially being right here,” Jacksonville mom Stephanie Bloodworth said.

Bloodworth tells Action News Jax that she takes extra precautions in parking lots, including wearing purses with cross body straps.

“A lot of times I don’t like to go out at night, especially with the kids because they are a distraction,” she said. “I feel like there are people who prey on that kind of stuff.”

The 18-year-old purse-snatching victim said her license, credit cards and money were in the purse, but she’s glad she wasn’t hurt.

“I’m just grateful I didn’t get hurt or anything because it could’ve gone way worse,” she said.

She described the woman in the red car as 18 to 25 years old with medium-length hair that was curly and reddish-brown.

Her description of the car is similar to the car a different woman says an attempted purse snatcher was driving at the Walmart near The Avenues.

Click here to read that story.

Cox Media Group