An 83-year-old woman fought off an armed robber who approached her with a knife Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of a Sarasota Sweetbay grocery store.
Agnes Lynn had opened the car door and was about to put her pocketbook inside when she was approached by "a handsome looking guy," clean shaven, about 60 years old, with blue eyes and graying hair, and a blue button-up shirt.
"He spoke real soft and very calm," Lynn said. "He said to me, 'Don't shout, don't scream, because I'll use this on you.'"
In his right hand was a black-handled knife. Lynn's first reaction was to throw her pocketbook into the far side of the car.
"I says to him, 'What? Get out of here' and I took two hands and pushed his shoulders and ran across to the front of the car," Lynn said.
The robber's expression changed to a look of shock and fear, Lynn said.
"In the meantime I'm screaming, 'Help help help.' He took off running down the strip of stores down Sweetbay."
Some people rushed to her to see what the problem was, and she pointed to the man as he disappeared from view.
The sheriff's office was asking the public for help finding a suspect this evening.
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