APD: Suspects followed woman home from bank, attacked her for money
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police are searching for two suspects who followed a woman home and attacked her in front of her house Friday afternoon after she withdrew money from a northwest Austin bank.
The assault took place just before 2:30 p.m. The Austin Police Department said after the woman withdrew money from a Wells Fargo location on Research Boulevard, two suspects in a gray, four-door BMW followed her home.
Police said as the woman was entering her home, the first suspect ran up behind her, attacked her and stole her purse with the cash inside.
APD said the woman was thrown and dragged on the pavement. She was taken to the hospital for her injuries.
Here are the descriptions of the robbers and their car as provided by APD:
- Suspect 1: Black man in his 20s, 5'9", thin build, last seen wearing a black hoodie, black pants, white socks, white Adidas slides with black stripes, a surgical mask and dark-colored gloves
- Suspect 2: Unknown, was the driver of the suspects' vehicle
- Vehicle: Grayish, newer model BMW with four doors and tinted windows
Robbery detectives are working with the Violent Crimes Task Force and the Violent Crimes Interdiction Unit to solve the case. APD said it's not known whether this attack is related to other jugging cases.
"Jugging" is a form of robbery where a suspect follows a victim from a bank, ATM or check-cashing store to their next location. There, the suspect threatens or attacks the victim and demands or steals the money. Some jugging cases could be considered burglaries by police if suspects break into a victim’s car instead to steal money left inside.
In June, APD said it was seeing an uptick in these types of cases, with at least 62 jugging incidents reported over the last year at Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase Bank.
Anyone with details on this particular jugging case should call the APD Robbery Tip Line at (512) 974-5092. Tipsters could get a reward by calling Crime Stoppers as well at (512) 472-TIPS.