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2 women attacked in separate incidents in Oakland area just hours apart
Police say they are looking for a tan four-door sedan as a suspect vehicle involved in at least one of the attacks on women in Oakland's Montclair neighborhood on Tuesday. One was beaten while loading groceries in an attempted purse robbery and another had her car window broken when a man grabbed her purse.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A woman out shopping in Oakland's Montclair Village neighborhood was beaten up by a stranger who tried to steal her purse as she was loading groceries into her vehicle. Oakland Police say the assault happened along the 2000 block of Mountain Boulevard about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Shoppers nearby at the Montclair Village Safeway store in Oakland say it isn't an area they usually think of as having lots of crime.
"I usually come in around 7 o'clock Saturday morning and feel perfectly safe here," said Kimberly Phillips of Oakland.
Oakland police say the attacker tried to grab the woman's purse and then turned violent, punching her several times, and knocking her down. The attacker couldn't pry away the purse, so quickly jumped into a car leaving the woman injured on the ground.
"There's been a little more crime in the area than normal," said Allison Legino, an Oakland resident who lives nearby, "My daughter goes to school right down the street and last month there was a man with a gun not too far and they locked down the school so that made me really uneasy."
"We definitely need more protection all throughout the city including here," said Barry Friedman of Oakland, who said he's seen thieves at a CVS store in the neighborhood several times.
"It gets robbed frequently. People come in at night and just take things from the shelves, cosmetics, and all of this. And I saw it happening twice while I was there," said Friedman.
Tuesday night's attack came just a few hours after another attack just three blocks away.
A woman was sitting in her car when a man reportedly smashed her passenger side window and grabbed her purse.
"It was completely shattered," said Steven Cornell who was walking by and saw the car, "Noticed this broken window and I didn't know if anyone was in the car, but then I peeked my head in and then I saw her. She was calling the police."
"It's been always very safe, but I think increasingly it's gotten worse," said Cornell who has lived in Montclair 45 years.
"It's alarming that it was at that time of day," said Kathy Livermore, the Neighborhood Watch Captain who lives down the street from the location of the attacks.
Livermore says some homes have security cameras and she plans to alert neighbors.
"If there's something that happens on the block, we do try to let everyone be aware of what's going on. We have a neighborhood list. We have everyone's emails and phone numbers," said Livermore.
Police say the woman who was beaten decided to drive herself to the hospital.
Investigators are looking for a tan 4-door sedan. Anyone with additional information in regard to this incident is urged to contact the Oakland Police Departments felony assault unit at (510) 323-5393.