Lynn police pursue pair accused of armed robbery

LYNN – A Marianna Street senior refused to give to male thieves her bag Thursday afternoon even after they threatened to shoot her and struck her on the head.The pair grabbed the bag only after the woman fell to the ground and, according to police Capt. Michael Mageary, lost control of the bag.The mid-afternoon theft on an East Lynn side street sparked a police hunt for a man wearing a silver windbreaker and another man wearing a black windbreaker even as officers converged on a West Lynn building in response to a stabbing report.Mageary offered few details Thursday on the West Lynn incident, but a city ambulance transported a man away from 41 Light St. and police scanner transmissions indicated officers were searching shortly before 2 p.m. for a man in a wheelchair and a woman.”That is an active and ongoing investigation, and no information is being released at this time,” Mageary said.The Marianna Street robbery occurred shortly after 1:30 p.m. as the woman unloaded groceries from her car. Mageary did not identify the woman but said in an electronic mail statement the thieves struck after she parked in her driveway and started unloading bundles from her car.The woman refused to let go of her shoulder bag when one of the men grabbed it and yelled, “?Let go, let go,'” stated Mageary.”She refused to and the suspect stated, ?Let go or I’m going to shoot you,'” Mageary stated.The woman fell down after one of the men struck her. The pair grabbed her bag and ran to nearby Fiske Avenue. Mageary described the pair as ranging in height between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall with thin builds. The man wearing the black windbreaker also wore a black “hoodie” underneath the jacket black knit cap.Police transmissions indicated a serrated folding knife may have been used in the Light Street stabbing. Light Street resident Doris Chacon said the victim and the suspect in the stabbing had repeated conflicts.”Trouble has been going on a while,” she said.The rooms-to-rent building is located across Hathaway Street from Greater Bethlehem Temple Pentecostal Church where congregation members Jermain Martin and Don Palermo said 41 Light St. attracts problems to the neighborhood.”There are always fights and arguments, and people hang around drunk,” Palermo said.He said a church member found a bag containing syringes on the ground last week, and Palermo and Martin said they have seen what they suspect to be drug deals conducted next to the building even though police patrol Light Street and sometimes park in front of 41 Light.”We try to do our best reaching out to people but then you have situations,” Martin said.