Tosa Woman Takes on Robber to Defend Her Children

A Wauwatosa woman defended her children like a mother bear defending her cubs when a robber lunged into her car while she was loading her kids and groceries after a shopping trip.

The woman reported that at 8:35 a.m. Wednesday, she had been the victim of a strong-arm robbery in the parking lot of Pick ‘n Save, 6950 W. State St. She told police she had just left the store with her three young children and was buckling them into their car seats from the driver’s side when a man approached her car from the passenger side.

The man suddenly opened her front passenger door and lunged into her car, she said. Thinking he was going to harm her children, she dove in from her side and found herself face to face with the robber.

She screamed “No!” at him. He grabbed her purse, which she had set down on her seat. She grabbed at it, too, but he pulled it away from her. He then ran to a waiting vehicle, got into the passenger side, and it drove off.

She described the vehicle as a black Chevy Blazer, about 10 years old and with no rear license plate. She described the robber as a light-skinned African-American man, 30 to 40 years old, bald, 5-feet 10-inches tall, stocky, weighing about 215 pounds. She said he had a round face similar to that of former boxer George Foreman.

The woman’s purse held her wallet, phone, cash and credit cards. The woman’s husband arrived and was in the process of canceling her credit cards when his bank began to inform him that transactions were taking place “almost in real time.”

Police squads were dispatched to the north side of Milwaukee in the hope of catching the robbers as they were using the cards. One officer thought he spotted the suspect vehicle near North 5th and West Center streets but lost sight of him in traffic. He then stopped at gas station where a transaction had been made minutes before.

The attendant said he had seen the black Chevy pull in, followed closely by several other cars. He watched as the driver of the Chevy pumped gas into a white Cadillac and then, suspicious of what was going on, turned off the pump as the suspect tried to start filling up another car.

The woman’s phone had a GPS tracking system, and it was traced to Sherman Park, where it was found discarded.

One witness saw the robbery take place in the parking lot and gave similar descriptions of the robber and the vehicle, although he didn't get a good look at the driver.

Store video showed them entering the store and talking to a cashier, then leaving without buying anything. The cashier said they had asked her to check the balance on a food stamp benefits card.

The description of the main actor matched what the victim and the witness had told officers. The driver appeared on the video to be a black man about 6-feet-2-inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds.