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Suspected Purse Snatcher Chased Down By 76-Year-Old Woman Arrested

LAKE ELSINORE (CBS) — Authorities say a 27-year-old man who was chased down by the 76-year-old woman whose purse he tried to snatch is behind bars.

The suspect, Adrian Ramos Gama, was arrested Wednesday during a traffic stop after investigators identified him using surveillance cameras, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. Gama was booked on suspicion of armed robbery, purse theft and drug possession.

The purse snatching happened on the afternoon of Feb. 1 in the parking lot of a Target store in Lake Elsinore. The woman had just put her purse in the passenger seat of her car when a man reached in and grabbed it, the newspaper reported. The woman got out of her car and chased him around the parking lot until he dropped her purse and drove off in a Honda Accord.

"He didn't know what to do," Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Patrick Chavez told the newspaper. "He wasn't expecting that."

Gama is also suspected in a Jan. 29 ATM robbery. He allegedly pulled a knife on a woman and her 9-year-old daughter, then ordering the woman to withdraw $200 or he would stab her, according to the Press-Enterprise.

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