A knife-wielding robber took two senior women on a horrifying ride after carjacking them outside a Northeast Wal-Mart on Nov. 15. Police seek the public’s help in identifying the thug.
The two victims and two other women had been shopping together at the Wal-Mart at 1 Franklin Mills Blvd. when they emerged from the store at about 8 p.m., Philadelphia police said.
As they approached their car, a man approached them with a knife and forced two of the women, ages 66 and 68, into the vehicle. The man sat in the back seat and held the knife to the front-seat passenger while demanding that the older woman drive to an ATM machine, police said.
According to one published report, they drove to two banks in the area, but both were closed. They went to the Wells Fargo branch at 2349 Street Road in Bensalem, where the man forced the women to withdrawn $700 from a drive-thru ATM.
The robber then forced the women to drive back to the Franklin Mills area, where he reportedly stole more cash from their purses, their car keys and their mobile phones before fleeing on foot toward the rear of a Pathmark supermarket.
The women found their car keys nearby, drove home and called police.
No injuries were reported.
The robber was described as white, 20 to 30 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall and 160 to 190 pounds. He wore a dark hooded sweat shirt, dark sweat pants with a white stripe down the leg seam, sunglasses and a baseball cap.
Police have posted a montage of surveillance photos on YouTube.com (Philadelphia Police channel), but the images only show the robber from a distance and do not show his face.
Call Northeast Detectives at 215–686–3153 to report information about the crime. ••
