77-Year-Old Woman Fights Off Robbers at Owings Mills Mall
Two suspects from Baltimore were charged with robbery and assault in the Monday incident.
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Two teenagers were charged with robbery and assault after trying -- and failing -- to snatch the purse of a 77-year-old woman outside the Owings Mills Mall Monday, Baltimore County Police said.
The teens, who were 14 and 16 years old, approached the woman as she left the mall and asked her for money. When she refused, the 14-year-old grabbed the woman's purse, police said.
The teen hit the woman in the face as she fought back, but failed to wrestle away the purse, police said.
The two teens ran away toward the AMC movie theater, where police later found them hiding in bushes.
The woman refused medical treatment, police said.
The boys, both of Baltimore City, were placed at the Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School, a juvenile detention center.
ddbs00
6:54 pm on Friday, December 2, 2011
So I guess Owings Mills Mall is not so dangerous, except for when it is.
Kelvin
10:29 pm on Friday, December 2, 2011
Wow... Stuff like this makes me wonder if I should never have moved to the Baltimore area. I'm glad she's alright and that the police found them.
Jeffrey Freedman
3:16 am on Sunday, December 4, 2011
@ddbs-A lot of the crime that we hear about taking place at OMM seems to be consistent with other malls around the area. It is not much different, just that due to the mall's bad reputation it seems to take a worse hit. What I can't understand is how, if the concern is about crime in the parking lot outdoors, how will an outdoor mall be safer and better than an indoor mall? If anything, it sounds like crime would be even more of a concern, and thus, may scare away shoppers even more.
mel
10:23 am on Sunday, December 4, 2011
Jeff, you are absolutely correct. The majority of people who live in the reisterstown and owings mills area will still shop at Hunt Valley. Who want to put up with the gangs of teenagers that will be attracted to the the new Owings Mils Mall.
Donna B.
7:20 am on Monday, December 5, 2011
So there isn't any crime in Hunt Valley or Towson Malls?
Tom Hope
8:36 am on Monday, December 5, 2011
With an outside type shopping area majority of the foot traffic is located outside therefore making a more open and public area. With there being more pedestrian traffic it creates a less attractive target senario for would be criminals due to the additional "witnesses. I'm sure it won't be crime free but I do believe it will be less then when the Mall was in its hey-days. Better video survielance at the Metro would be helpful.
mel
9:47 am on Monday, December 5, 2011
How abou they just close the Metro
Jeffrey Freedman
5:38 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011
I agree that the Metro is probably the most significant problem. I think the inside of the mall is fine, especially considering that they have pretty good security, but from all we've been hearing, the parking lot is not the place to be spending a lot of time. The other malls have crime also, but since they do not carry a bad reputation, it does not impact them as much. I guess we will see what happens with this project. I say keep the indoor mall for safety reasons. OR, create a half indoor and half outdoor mall. That option would still allow for the demolition of some of the mall, as planned, and could satisfy the needs of everyone in the community.
Armstrong
11:35 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011
I think there is a logic flaw in tying this activity to the proximity of the Metro. It is actually not easy to get to the mall from the Metro (ie you can't walk because of construction fences and have to take a bus). The light rail runs to Hunt Valley and is easy to walk to the mall from. Wouldn't you expect the same issue? A more logical explanation might be that the Hunt Valley mall actually has STORES in it so there are a higher proportion of people there on legitimate business as opposed to simply hanging out.
Trixie Leigh
7:24 am on Sunday, December 11, 2011
@ Armstrong - Before the construction fences went up, it was quite easy to get from the metro to the mall. Does anyone remember the murder that took place on or near the pathway from the mall to the metro? I do. I used to work across the street in one of the high rises and remember it well. The young lady worked at Saks and she was walking to the metro when she was killed.
Jennifer
1:28 pm on Saturday, December 17, 2011
It's horrible to hear about any crime, but when a violent crime happens in a town center, the area neighborhood feels much more vulnerable. People can secure their homes and their cars, but when someone is shopping, walking to their car or a bus stop and fall prey to robbery and murder, how can you convince them that they are not vulnerable to the same thing? Catching a murderer doesn't bring back the dead. Luckily the woman in this story survived assault and the thieves were caught. However it's that element of 'luck', good or bad that makes people realize that they cannot control everything that happens. Many times, in an effort to have some impact on the safety of the community, we suffer the loss of local business that could create thousands of jobs. Malls, especially parking areas and public restrooms, have become notorious hot spots for crime all over the country. The murder of Christine Brown occurred in 1992 (mentioned above by Jaycee). In 2005, William Bassett was murdered in the parking garage at the Towson Town Center. I'm not minimizing these two incidents by saying that crimes happen at malls, it's much more personal than that. We all have 'the mall' that we love to go. No one want's to worry about personal safety when doing something enjoyable or going to and from work. Hopefully a new, more populated mall with state of the art security systems will bring back the positive experience we all want from shopping in our own neighborhood.