An elderly woman was pushed to the ground and an attacker took her purse on Easter Sunday as the woman was walking home from church, Ithaca Police said.
An 88-year-old woman was walking home from church on the 200 block of South Geneva Street around 12:10 p.m. when someone grabbed her purse from behind, Sgt. Robert Brotherton said in a statement.
The churchgoer “struggled with her attacker,” police said, before the suspect shoved her to the ground.
The strap on the woman’s purse then broke, allowing the suspect to take the purse and jump into a light-colored vehicle, police said.
The woman was treated for minor injuries on the scene.
A suspect drove the vehicle — a gray or white sedan or SUV — north on South Geneva Street and turned left onto West Green Street, driving toward traffic on a one-way street, authorities said.
Officers have so far been unable to locate the vehicle or the suspects, Brotherton said.
Police described the suspects as a heavyset black woman in her 30s wearing light-colored clothing and a black man who drove the getaway vehicle from the scene. It was not immediately clear from the release whether the man or woman allegedly grabbed the purse.
Police urged anyone with information about the incident to call the Ithaca Police Department’s tip line at 607-697-0333.