KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Knoxville police are on the hunt for thieves tied to two purse snatchings at West Town Mall.
The first happened inside the Belk on June 3, the second in the mall parking lot on June 5.
Both victims are elderly women, and police believe the same thieves are responsible for both crimes.
Ruby Coffman-Jones, 76, was the first victim.
She said she walked into Belk on June 3 to use a gift card she got for Mother's Day.
She barely made it through the door when someone stole her purse.
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"Someone just slipped up behind me, grabbed my purse, yanked it so hard that I fell over backward," said Coffman-Jones.
She saw the purse-snatcher run out the door into a waiting car and drive off.
"I yelled 'I've been robbed I've been robbed!'"
Knoxville police shared this surveillance video of the crime.
A nearby sales clerk helped Coffman-Jones call the police. She said they arrived within a few minutes and were very helpful.
She's missing her cell phone, wallet, license, and the suspects spent money on one of her husband's credit card that she had in her purse.
Coffman-Jones has some bruises where she fell on her knee and where the purse was yanked from her wrist. She's shaken up that all this happened at West Town Mall.
"I felt as safe as any place I've been, ya know?" she said.
Knoxville police believe the people involved in her robbery also took a purse from a 90-year-old shopper in the mall parking lot two days later.
Coffman-Jones said she has an idea why older women are being targeted.
"I dare say that looks like a good person to rob, since you know you're not gonna get a whole lot of fight," she said. "Although I would have had my purse under my arm and I would have been holding on tighter if I'd been thinking about something like that."
Police are now looking for the suspects pictured in the surveillance photos below.
Knowing the thieves are still out there, Coffman-Jones urges caution to other shoppers.
"Be focused, think about the fact that something could happen, and just be as careful as you can," she said.
Police are looking for the pictured suspects, who were driving a white or silver Infinity.
They ask if you have any information to call the Crime Hotline at 865-215-7212 or email propertycrimes@knoxvilletn.gov.