Would-be purse snatcher gets surprise from victim's husband

(11/02/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- A suspected purse snatcher didn't know what he was in for when he picked a woman in a Home Depot parking lot for a victim. As soon as he grabbed her purse, the woman's husband grabbed a shotgun and opened fire.

It happened at the Home Depot on the Eastex Freeway near Little York. With as much activity during business hours there, you never know who may be waiting in the wings, night or day, ready to strike.

"I was just standing here and the guy just came up and pushed me real hard with a force, like it was a car that hit me. And he was just yanking my purse and my arm got twisted up in my purse and he just was just yanking it," said victim Sandra Hulsey.

Sandra may have looked like an easy target standing there as her husband, Norman, loaded wood into the couple's pickup truck. It turned out the suspect who shoved Sandra and tried to steal her purse didn't know who he was messing with.

"I had a board in my hand right here and I thought he was going to beg for money...is what I thought," said Norman. "He grabbed her and I already had that door open so I just grabbed my shotgun."

He fired a shot.

"The sound of the shotgun and that dude burning off -- it was funny," said eyewitness Freddy Butler.

Butler chased after the accused purse snatcher. who took off running and ended up asking a police officer for help.

"He displays a weapon and it scares the suspect," said a deputy on the scene. "The suspect runs up the police car and saying, 'Let me in. They are shooting at me'."

Police took the suspect into custody.

"The guy just didn't have any business doing what he was doing," said Sandra. "It's shaken me up but I'm OK."

The suspect was not injured. The Houston Police Department turned over the suspect to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Deputies say they patrol this area pretty heavily and despite what happened out there Thursday, they have not had many problems in the area.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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