League City: Armed robbery at Wal-Mart

[seamusTX]

An armed robber took a woman's purse in the parking lot of Wal-Mart at I-45 and FM 646 at 1:14 p.m. Friday. The 50-year-old woman was not injured and provided a description of the robber and his possible accomplice: "The man was white, in his mid-20s to early 30s and from 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall. He had blond hair and wore khaki shorts. The woman was white with blonde hair."

"The [suspects] fled in a Chevrolet Suburban that had a winged hood ornament, sunroof and chrome, eight-spoke rims."

http://galvestondailynews.com/story.las ... 47142#oman" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[Manfred]

At any given time I would think there is 50-100 Wally Walkers in a Wal-Mart, I am suprised the headline didnt read:

"Would be robber found in parking lot blown to a pile hamburger and cheep jewelry by group of Wally Walkers"

The Hawaiian shirt secret service is going to have to step it up a notch...

[G26ster]

At any given time I would think there is 50-100 Wally Walkers in a Wal-Mart...

They were all busy checking who was printing and who was not Or, they were looking for more Hawaiian shirts

[seamusTX]

Robberies of this sort are over in seconds. You could be ten feet from one and not know that anything happened.

The victim deserves credit for the details that she reported to the police. It would be nice to know the color of the vehicle, in addition to the number of spokes in the wheels. However, if you've ever been in that kind of situation, you know that you remember some trivial details and can't recall more significant things.

- Jim

[Oldgringo]

League City, Galveston, Texas City and La Marque all seem to be nice places to visit...between 1000 and 1400 hrs. on weekdays?

Perhaps the local C of C's and Police Depts. have some information to share on shopping and tourist attractions in the areas?

[seamusTX]

This stuff happens everywhere, in proportion to the population.

If you don't hear about it in your area, the newspapers aren't doing their job. Most police departments put crime patterns on the web now, though they don't always make it easy to find the information.

- Jim

[ELB]

... It would be nice to know the color of the vehicle, in addition to the number of spokes in the wheels. However, if you've ever been in that kind of situation, you know that you remember some trivial details and can't recall more significant things.

- Jim

On my very last day in Germany after two tours and six-plus years, I was driving out of the little village I had lived in for the last time. I was just starting to make a left onto the "crossbar" of a T-intersection when this German woman in a BMW came hauling donkey into town from the left. She was probably doing 90 to 100 kph in a 50 kph zone (plus the "crossbar" was curved, so she could not see around it to the right). I stomped on the brake and said a bad word -- OK, more than one -- as she flew by and I realized I almost had my first and only accident in Germany, on my very last day. It really ramped up my blood pressure. I watched her fly by in front of me, swoop around the curve to the left -- and smack right into a delivery truck that had just turned into her lane to get to the butcher shop. Delivery guy never had a chance, she was hidden from view until too late.

She got out of her car and started screaming at the delivery guy. I walked over to see if anyone was hurt; she completely ignored me, too busy screaming. I made sketch of the scene, and wrote down details such as license plate numbers, make and model, etc. My now ex-landlords called the cops. When one showed up, in my limited German and his zero-English I understood he wanted me to come to the police station where there was an interpreter who would take my statement.

I got to the police station, and a cop (who spoke very good English) asked me questions while the interpreter wrote down the official answer, I guess. I told him what had happened, showed him my notes, etc. Then he says, "Just one more question. What color was her car?"

I was stumped. For the life of me I could not remember the color. I could picture the car zooming by -- but not the color. I hadn't written it down for some reason, and it was gone from memory. I told him I was embarrassed I could not remember, but all I could remember was that the car seemed dirty. (Turns out it was a grey/silver color).

I had a couple other experiences with my memory, and others, that have shown me that eye witness accounts are to be taken with a grain of salt. It is amazing how even major details and facts can be missed or mis-interpreted, or changed in time sequence... And I think the closer you are to an unexpected, violent incident, the more screwed up your memory becomes.

[seamusTX]

I was stumped. For the life of me I could not remember the color.

The way that the human brain works is still largely unknown and a fascinating mystery. On some level, we remember things in black and white and have a great deal of trouble remembering colors.

Here is just the first article I found on this topic: http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2007/1 ... or-memory/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[jacobsd8195]

At any given time I would think there is 50-100 Wally Walkers in a Wal-Mart, I am suprised the headline didnt read:

"Would be robber found in parking lot blown to a pile hamburger and cheep jewelry by group of Wally Walkers"

The Hawaiian shirt secret service is going to have to step it up a notch...

I was at that particular Walmart 2 days before, about the same time during the day. After I read about what happened, it sure got me thinking if I'd been presented with the situation... although I don't normally carry a purse and probably wouldn't have been the intended victim!

This sure reinforces the mantra of "Carry always, or guess right..." especially since it happened so close to home. My wife is starting to get used to me always carrying, although now I get slightly nervous when she goes out by herself since she does not currently have her CHL. I have found myself going on errands with her that I normally wouldn't want to...

DJ

[Oldgringo]

This stuff happens everywhere, in proportion to the population.

If you don't hear about it in your area, the newspapers aren't doing their job. Most police departments put crime patterns on the web now, though they don't always make it easy to find the information.

- Jim

If someone did that to someone here, they'd probably be doing it to some sort of relative. That may be one reason why there is no crime/arrest report in the weekly er, uh...paper.

[stevie_d_64]

"The [suspects] fled in a Chevrolet Suburban that had a winged hood ornament, sunroof and chrome, eight-spoke rims."

Yeah the whole memory lapse and color recollection issue is sure a problem sometimes...

Tricked out rims on a Chevy Suburban with a gawdy looking pimped ot hood ornament should be easy to spot...Thats if these goobers are still in the area...

Especially if I see something similar in a WalMart parking lot anywhere in the Southeast Harris County or Galveston County vacinity...

Since they could describe a "sunroof", then it may be apparent that the (some) windows may not be tinted very dark, or not at all...

[seamusTX]

These goobers, as you rightly put it, don't often roam far from home -- though that area has about a square mile of shopping-center parking lots with quick access to I-45.

If the dope has half a brain (which is doubtful), he'll lose the hood ornament and hubcaps.

The sunroof is an odd detail. The roof of a Suburban is over six feet high (76.8 inches for a 2010 model). Very few women, maybe 0.5 percent of the adult population, even wearing heels, could see something that high.

- Jim

[Kevinf2349]

SeamusTX : I think the report I read said that the vehicle was Tan or Gold. I didn't see it yesterday when I was over there, but you can bet I was watching for it.

[Justin Franklin]

I saw on the news today that they caught the robbers. I think there were three of them featured in the news story. Not sure which channel it was on, but I think it was channel 2.

[seamusTX]

http://www.galvnews.com/story/159106" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ultimateclearlake.com/2010/0 ... y-wal-mart" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The alleged suspects are from Pearland., maybe 20 miles away from League City.

What a sorry mess of losers.

- Jim