SYRACUSE -- It must have been a terrifying ride for a 91-year-old woman in Syracuse. One minute she was sitting outside a drug store waiting for her daughter to come back to the car, next someone is stealing the vehicle and she's still inside.
A 91-year-old woman was in the passenger seat of a 2007 Toyota Camry when her daughter went inside the Kinney Drugs on Seneca Turnpike for a few minutes. The daughter left the car running and that's when, according to Syracuse Police, 16-year-old Robert Walker jumped in the driver's seat and took off with the car. Investigators say the suspect drove the car almost ten miles to South Salina Street where he stopped to go inside Bersani Jewelers.
Diane Bersani owns the jewelry store where the suspect made his first stop. She said he asked to look at some high end jewelry. When one of the employees asked to see ID, Walker ditched the hoodie he was wearing at the front of the store and bolted. "I had no idea what happened, but I took it outside and showed it to police and said 'are you looking for the person wearing this', They said 'yes' and then they told me this young man kidnapped a 91-year-old woman," says Diane.
Walker had also been inside the nearby Rite Aid, and by the time he came out, police were waiting for him. Syracuse Police Sergeant Tom Connellan said, "Witnesses pointed him out to officers as he came out of the Rite Aid downtown, After a short foot chase officers did take him into custody."
Police say they were alerted to the stolen car when customers saw the suspect jump in the car outside Kinney Drugs. Investigators say they scoured the city for half an hour before witnesses called 911 to report the elderly woman asked them for help on South Salina Street. "The 91-year-old lady, obviously this was a terrifying experience for her. She was not injured, she's shaken up, scared, but not injured," said Connellan.
Police say Walker faces grand larcency charges. Police say the arrest would've taken a lot longer if it wasn't for witnesses who called in to report what they saw.
