PHOENIX - She never envisioned getting robbed at the supermarket, but the quick thinking of a Phoenix woman might be the reason it won't happen to anybody else.
“I was angry, I was hyper and thought ‘I’m going to call somebody,’ but realized my phone was in the purse, so I just looked at the license plate number.”
The woman, who didn't want to be identified because the case is still pending, says she recalls the entire license plate number. A crucial piece of evidence because police say two teenagers used the same car to carry out their plan on several women in Valley parking lots.
Court documents show police tracked the car with two teens in it to a West Valley parking lot and witnessed them attempt to steal another woman's purse.
“When I turned around to get my purse – all I saw was this young boy hanging onto the car with one hand and with the other hand he grabbed my purse and he was gone – it was only a matter of seconds," the woman said.
Police connecting similar stories from June 6 to June 11 and arresting 18-year-old Elias Ryan Wools Garcia and an underage accomplice in connection with nine aggravated robberies and robbery attempts in the valley.
“They could have run me over, that’s how close they were," the woman recalled.
Also recalling the license plate number which was the biggest lede police had in the case. This woman has one piece of advice for anyone who ever finds themselves in a similar situation.
"If you can get their license plate number or recognize them somehow – all of that information helps," she said.
The advice might be easier said than done, but in a case like this where there are no surveillance cameras, it might be the only way to catch a criminal.