The New Orleans Police Department reported two armed robberies within minutes of each other Friday morning. Both victims were women walking on or near Magazine Street.
The first was averted Friday with the help of some bystanders in the East Riverside neighbor. A 42-year-old woman was in the 1000 block of Aline Street, near Magazine, at about 8 a.m. when a man approached her from the side, pointed a gun at her and demanded her purse.
She refused to turn it over to him. The two struggled over the purse until two bystanders intervened and the gunman fled.
About 10 minutes later, in the 2000 block of Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District, a 27-year-old woman was walking from her car to her workplace when a man got out of his car and approached her from behind. He knocked her to the ground and took her purse.
The assailant is described as a black man in his 20s, about 5 foot 7 with a thin build wearing a black hoodie. He was driving a silver four-door Infiniti with no license plate.
Further details were not immediately available. Anyone with information is urged to call the NOPD Sixth District station at 504-658-6060 to speak to a detective, or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 to leave an anonymous tip that could be eligible for a cash reward.
