Warning shot stops purse snatcher in Olympia

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A man who snatched a purse from a local supermarket earlier week this was getting away until a witness fired a warning shot, Olympia police say.

The suspected purse snatcher, a 26-year-old man, was ultimately arrested and booked into jail. Police have asked prosecutors to determine whether the warning shot the witness fired was legal.

At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, police were sent to the Safeway store on Harrison Avenue and a a disturbance in the 400 block of Cooper Point Road. Witnesses heard a gunshot at the second location and saw that a group of people had a man pinned to the ground.

A 62-year-old woman had put her purse in a cart at Safeway as she shopped. The suspect pushed her, grabbed her purse and ran out of the store.

Witnesses heard her cries for help and tried to catch the suspect. They got in a car to try to find him and saw him going through the purse at Cooper Point Road. They confronted him, and he ran again. But a witness fired a warning shot in the ground.

He stopped, and the witnesses held him.

Police say the suspect admitted to the purse snatching. And he also admitted that he stole a wallet from the Safeway the previous day. The wallet was in his car. Police found it and returned it to its owner.