7/9/2007

Elderly Woman Robbed In Dallas Church Parking Lot

DALLAS -- An 83-year-old woman was robbed in a Dallas church parking lot Sunday morning.

Janie King said she was getting out of her car to go into the Skillman Church of Christ when she was attacked and robbed.

"It just happened so suddenly. I really didn't even have a chance to see him," she said. "He came up, and he grabbed the purse and my car keys."

King says she remembers that he had a stick and a look of desperation. He snatched her keys so quickly he broke her fingers.

He sped off in her 2000 Buick Century with her purse and wallet inside.

"It had a social security card, Medicare, MasterCard, check book, the whole works," she said.

Building manager Blaine Armstrong drove King to the hospital.

"We just have to be more vigilant," Armstrong said. "We all have to be careful."

King agrees, though she doesn't dwell on her misfortune.

Instead, the grandmother of three wishes she could teach her attacker a lesson.

"I'd tell him to straighten out his life and try to get a job and pay for his way," she said.

The church's security guard was only about 50 feet away from King when she was mugged.