On 8/14/12, at about 6:50 PM, a female shopper at the Hemet Wal Mart was loading her groceries into her car. A masked suspect, armed with a knife, grabbed the female's purse and started running away. An alert citizen chased the suspect while a 15 year old female, who was also in the area, called her mother via her cell phone. Mom was nearby and arrived as the 15 year old and the other citizen were tackling the suspect. Mom jumped in, put the suspect in an arm lock, and the group held the suspect until police arrived seconds later.
Arrested was:
18 year old Julian Santos from Winchester, California. Santos was booked into Riverside County Jail with charges of Attempted Robbery, Grand Theft from Person.
Although the Hemet Police Department does not condone citizens putting themselves into danger, we are pleased with the end result of this case; a bad guy is in jail and the victim's purse was returned to her. If you happen to see a crime in progress, we recommend you call 911 and provide the dispatcher with needed information such as locations and descriptions from a safe distance.