A routine shopping trip turned brutal for one female earlier this week. The woman was the victim of an attack as she was robbed in the parking lot of Kroger on I-55 North on Monday.

The victim was loading groceries into her vehicle around 5 p.m. when a white Mazda pulled up behind her, said Precinct Four Officer Robbie Huff. A black male got out of the passenger seat of the Mazda and approached the woman. Then he hit her in the face, knocked her down and took her purse before fleeing.

The woman was later transported to a local hospital, Huff said.

A witness to the aftermath of the attack described what she saw in an e-mai. She described seeing the victim lying behind her car, just across from where she had park. The e-mail also described the victim’s face as being crushed. Two people were attending to the woman.

Kroger officials were closed-mouthed when asked for comment.

On Sunday morning, June 3, a young female was alsoattacked while running on the multi-use trail in Ridgeland.

“We had a young female who was out for a morning run and was on the section of the trail between Rice Road and Old Canton Road.” Lieutenant John Neal of the Ridgeland Police Department said.

According to Neal, the victim passed by a black male in his mid-20s to mid-30s. He was approximately six feet tall, weighing 180 pounds.

He was walking slowly, and she went around him in the same direction. Later down the trail she was attacked from behind. He knocked her to the ground and they struggled.

Neal said the attacker indicated that he had a weapon, although she never did see one. He lost his grip on her and she was able to escape to get help from others near the trail.

At presstime the suspect was still at large.

Another Northside female had her shopping trip turned into a nightmare last week after a robber with a gun with a gun accosted her.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, pulled into the parking lot of Batte Furniture at 1010 E. Northside Dr., on May 30 at approximately 2:40 p.m. As she looked around to decide where she wanted to park, no one was in sight.

After parking adjacent to the building, near the door, the woman took her keys out of the ignition and opened her car door. Before she could get out of her seat, it happened.

“He came storming up out of nowhere and had a semiautomatic weapon,” she said.

The robber pointed the gun at her, called her “an ugly name,” and demanded that she hand over her purse. She did not comply with his demand.

“Not because I intentionally withheld it, but because I didn’t want to get near that gun,” she said.

The two stared at each other for what the woman said felt like an eternity, though was probably only a split second. She had swiveled in her seat and had slid backwards in the seat when the robber grabbed her purse, which had been sitting on the seat between the victim and the door, and fled.

He headed toward the fence separating Batte Furniture from the North Hill Square Apartments, which had been broken, allowing the robber to simply step over the fence and disappear between the buildings of North Hill Square, she said.

An employee of Batte heard her screams and came over to assist her before she went into the store to call the police.

The victim described the perpetrator as a neatly dressed, dark complected young man in his late teens to early twenties.

this robbery is the first in Batte Furniture’s 45 years at its Northside Drive location, and that they are now considering what their next step should be regarding security, according to John Batte of Batte Furniture.

“We’re distressed about it and we are looking at the whole package and trying to decide what we may need to do,” Batte said.

AN ARMED PERPATRATOR entered a home in the 2100 block of Heritage Hills and robbed an occupant of the home, said Precinct Four Officer Robbie Huff.

A few minutes after the victim entered the house at approximately 12:25 p.m. on May 22, a black male armed with a knife entered the house through an unlocked door and confronted the victim. The suspect demanded money, but the victim had none, Huff said.

Instead, the robber took the victim’s jewelry and fled the scene.

A woman was robbed at the InTown Suites on May 25 at approximately 1:32 p.m., Huff said.

The woman was walking up the stairs of the motel toward her room when she felt someone tugging on her purse. When she turned around, she saw a black male armed with a handgun behind her, Huff said.

The suspect took the victim’s purse and fled the scene on foot, Huff said.

Robberies of individuals were reported in the 300 block of W. Northside Dr., on May 23, and the 6100 block of Ridgewood Road on May 26. No other information was available at press time.