Local

72-year-old woman chases after teen robbers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A 72-year-old woman wants to ask the three teenagers who robbed her why they attacked her.

She was putting Christmas decorations in her car Wednesday in the Dixie Village Shopping Center parking lot when someone grabbed her purse.

"And it swung me all the way around," she said.

Two of the teenagers ran off.

"They looked at me and laughed, and that's when I started chasing them," she said.

She said she was angry and determined to catch them.

"I don't know what I would have done if I would have caught up with one, but I would have put up a fight to get my purse back," she said.

Another teen pulled up in a getaway car, and the other robbers got in the vehicle.

She couldn't catch up with them, but she got a good look at their car and three numbers from their license plate.
Police said they stopped that car minutes later.

They arrested Jonathan Gomez, David Martinez and Israel Rodriguez, all 17, and they made their first appearance in court Thursday.

Martinez is accused of driving the getaway car, and his attorney told the judge he was not a robber.

"I believe the evidence will show that Martinez was caught up in something that he should not have been caught up in," the attorney said.

"Was it worth it?" the elderly woman wants to ask the boys.