Los Angeles

Purse-Snatchers Sought After Targeting Councilman's Grandma

The 94-year-old is the grandmother of LA City City Councilman Joe Buscaino, who decried the attack on his elderly grandmother.

Police are asking for the public's help in locating two brazen purse-snatchers who targeted the 94-year-old grandmother of an LA City Councilman.

Surveillance video shows the two young suspects first scoping out Rosario LoGrande inside the Santa Fe Seconds store on Avalon Boulevard in Wilmington on Nov. 29.

As she used her walker to head to her car in the store parking lot, one of the two men rode his skateboard by LoGrande, snatching her purse and taking off.

Police said the two young men are between 16 and 20 years old.

"We know that they were working together, but the main suspect is the one in the black shirt on the video," said Det. Kelvin Higa of LAPD’s Harbor Division. "We have an idea that these people have done this more than once, so we're hoping to get leads on anyone who may know these guys."

Inside her bag was $900 in cash to buy Christmas gifts for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her passport, her green card and her California ID.

Councilman Joe Buscaino, LoGrande’s grandson, said her family was grateful she wasn’t hurt.

"The first thing I told my aunt was, is she OK? Being a frail 94 year old, who survived two hip replacements, that was my only fear," he said.

He said the theft hit home for his family.

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"I've seen it as a police officer, as a council member, but this hits home for us,” he said. “Regardless of where you live, you don't victimize senior citizens. You crossed the line."

Rosario's family says she cried for a week after it happened, but now this faith-filled Sicilian grandmother, the matriarch of her family, said she has forgiven the two young men.

“My message to these boys is you should respect the elderly,” she told a translator in Italian. “Go to school, get an education and please don't do this again.”

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