'I'm Not Going To Live In Fear': 89-Year-Old Woman Robbed Outside Bank, Suspect Arrested
HARMAR TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- A man is facing charges for robbing an 89-year-old woman in the parking lot of a Harmar Township bank Monday.
An 89-year-old Cheswick woman who had just cashed a $300 check at a PNC Bank was assaulted and robbed by a man sitting in the bank lobby at the same time.
Police identified him as 37-year-old Brandon Crowe, of Arnold.
After she left, police said Crowe followed the woman outside where he assaulted her in the parking lot and ran off to a nearby Target store, where he hopped into a waiting jitney.
"As I'm holding my envelope real tight, that's whenever he came and got my... He's pulling on my envelope and I kept pulling back," the victim told KDKA News. "I said, 'what the heck is going on,' I couldn't believe it."
The victim did not want to be identified.
"I'm yelling, 'help, help, help,' even before he got the envelope 'cause I was struggling with him. And the bank, the girls [in the bank] were actually shocked when they saw it."
Brandon Crowe of Arnold facing charges after police said he assaulted and robbed an 89 year old woman outside a Harmar Twp. bank Monday morning. Victim told KDKA she won't let incident force her to "live in fear." pic.twitter.com/RGOrfu4dto
— Ralph Iannotti (@IannottiRalph) March 26, 2019
Police arrested Crowe just down the street from where he lived on Woodmont Avenue in Arnold. He faces charges including robbery and assault.
The jitney driver who picked Crowe up and then later dropped him off is co-operating with investigators.
The woman said police told her that she might not have been Crowe's intended target.
"They were saying that they think he came to rob the bank because he wouldn't let them photograph his face. He had a hat or something on," she said.
Despite what happened to her outside the bank Monday morning, the feisty victim said after her 89 years, she has no intention of changing anything.
"I'm not going to live in fear," she said. "This is the first time that anything has ever happened to me. But you know what, I feel I'm blessed. I do. I'm not lucky, I'm just blessed. That's the way I feel. I'm a spunky lady."