Cops: Elderly Couple, 81 And 83, Mugged Over Pocketbook In Rockville Centre

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- They are in their early 80s and were headed out for dinner.

But as a Long Island couple walked from their car, the wife was mugged, and her husband was hurt trying to go after the thief, CBS 2's John Slattery reported Thursday.

The strip of stores on Sunrise Highway is a low crime area, but Wednesday evening, an elderly couple was mugged.

"Here in Rockville Centre? That's shocking," resident Eileen Pachtman said.

It happened at night in the parking lot behind the stores. The injured woman is 81 and her husband is 83. People inside this Hallmark store heard it.

"We heard a scream. Looked at lady's face, [she was] bloody on the floor," store manager Susan Pronko said.

Police said the couple had just gotten out of their car and were walking to a restaurant when the woman was attacked.

"The subject came from between two parked cars, grabbed the wife's pocketbook she had over her shoulder. There was a slight tussle over the pocketbook.  The woman fell," Nassau County Police Lt. Robert Galgano said.

Her husband tried to chase the robber.

"And while he was attempting to go after the suspect, he fell and sustained injuries," Lt. Galgano said.

The thief made off with the purse, credit cards, cash and keys. The wife was targeted, police said, because she was elderly.

"Unbelievable, I've never heard of any crime like that here in Rockville Centre," Pachtman said.

On Saturday, near the Rockville Centre Train Station, a woman was robbed of her purse and phone. And on Sunday the two same culprits pummeled a woman to the ground, detectives said.

Police said they don't believe those two incidents are related to the latest attack, but it is odd for so many muggings in the same area in less than a week.

Police have only a vague description of the attacker.

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