This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Police were hunting Wednesdy for a female suspect who assaulted mother-daughter good Samaritans outside a downtown Salt Lake City homeless service facility.
SLCPD detectives say the pair were walking across a street en route to the St. Vincent De Paul Resource Center, at 235 S. Rio Grande Street, when the 4:15 p.m. Tuesday attack occurred.
The suspect — described as a 5-foot-tall Latina, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt with a "Cali" logo and image of a bear on the front — grabbed the mother by the hair with one hand and snatched at the victim's purse with the other. During the ensuing struggle, the suspect also punched the mother in the face.
The victim's wallet fell out of the purse, and while several homeless bystanders came to the mother's and daughter's aid, someone else picked up the wallet, stripped it of an unspecified amount of cash, and ran off.
Anyone with information on this case should call SLCPD at 801-799-3000, or anonymously text information to 274637 with the keyword TIPSLCPD.
Twitter: @remims