Purse snatcher eludes chasers

WARREN—It was like a scene straight out of the movies.

An elderly woman drops her grocery bags and young man asked if she needed help and she said no.

The next thing she knows is that she is struggling with the man who is trying to take her purse and the man wins and takes off.

She starts shouting and other men hear her and they chase after the purse snatcher, only to have the man elude them.

This all happened Saturday afternoon at the Giant Eagle on Mahoning Avenue in Warren. Treva Fabel, 81 years old, said “he [the purse snatcher] walked in front of [the] buggy, but I never gave it a thought, that this would happen to me.”

She said she knows things like this happen but she thought would never have to experience it.

Ryan O’Renic, 18, one of the brave men who followed the purse snatcher, said he was walking to his car from Giant Eagle when he saw the purse snatcher run off and heard Fabel screaming.

Police are looking for the suspect.