A man tried to snatch a woman’s purse in the Midtown neighborhood of Palo Alto but was scared off — the second such incident in that area in nine days, police said.
The man rode a skateboard and approached a woman from behind in the Walgreen’s parking lot around 10:20 a.m. on Tuesday, police said.
He grabbed the strap of her purse but the woman, who is in her 40s, managed to pull away and keep walking, police said.
The other attempted mugging happened in a parking lot of an apartment complex next to the Midtown Shopping Center.
A woman in her 70s was sitting in her car with her door open on Oct. 9 around 9:30 a.m., police said.
A man approached her, grabbed the strap of her purse, and demanded she give it to him, police said.
He ran away after the woman activated a panic alarm on her keychain, police said.
Police believe the same man could’ve committed both crimes.