E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSA mugger explained that he had turned to crime to get money for school clothes, according to the victim.
Angie Barnaby said she was heading back to her car after shopping at the Burlington Coat Factory at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, Florida, when she was assaulted Sunday night.
"All of a sudden I was being choked by my chain being yanked off my neck,” she said.
'I couldn't believe it'
The person tugging on the other end of the necklace couldn’t have been more than 22 years old, Barnaby estimated.
"I said, 'Let it go – I'll give it to you. Just let it go',” she said.
It was then that the suspect provided an explanation for what he was doing, she said.
"I couldn't believe it – he had a look and he said, 'I need money for school clothes',” Barnaby recalled.
More stories from NBCMiami.com
She said the 15-year-old necklace was a gift from her husband. It cost about $350, but held great sentimental value for her, and the pendant hanging from it was a cross.
"I'm angry but I'm more sad he felt he has to resort to these measures,” she said.
The man, who wore all black, didn’t run away from the mall, but instead ran right back inside, Barnaby said.
Sunrise Police quickly responded, and on surveillance video saw the man re-entering the mall.
Police have not made an arrest.
Barnaby, who was left with marks on her neck, said she worries that the suspect could try to hurt someone else in a desperate act. She said she was lucky.
"This could have gone much more terribly wrong for a necklace,” she said.
Leave a Comment:
I thought Johnny Cash passed away. Oh Joaqin Pheonix is at it again! That crazy fella.
This is Florida, if the woman defended herself the "student" could killed her and claimed self defense just like Zimmerman. Since she didn't die, unlike the Zimmerman case, there are two versions to the crime.
I'm sorry, Dick, but that is by far the most stupid comment I have seen on this vine, and that includes the intentional flaming. I am going to assume you are a troll because of how unrelated the comment is, but if not, here it goes:
The SYG law cannot be used in the commishion of a crime to claim self defense. If she were to defend herself she was standing her ground. You can't attack someone and claim you are standing your ground when they gain the upper hand.
As of now, there is no evidence of Z attacking Treyvon, and therefore, SYG law applies.
Please go educate yourself.
Sorry, double post. Have a happy day!!
How about giving us a description of this mugger? Too much to ask?
If he tries that with me he'll need money for funeral clothes.
John-2032532
Okay john.........you're not some old fagile lady now are you?
Where I live people get carjacked pumping gas, washing their cars and buying groceries all the time, and not just old ladies.
Thsi guy does realize their are places that GIVE away free clothes to needy familes right?
I don't care what the reason. You don't seal from people.
Stealing is bad too.
Sorry I missed the T. It's dark here. Anyone for tea.
This is Little Cuba, oops I mean FL. The Cubans long ago established their drug trade there and of course since they vote RWNJ, all is OK.
still on my coffee Mary but thank you for the gracious offer.
The solution for this type of crime is tax cuts for the wealthy 1%.
Willie:
The victim was 22, hardly an old person.
Willie:
My fault. I misread the article. It actually said the victim estimated the perpetrator to be no more than 22. Accept my apology.
never mind. :)
Wakehead, no the solution for this type of crime is tax hikes on the 1%. Doing this will eliminate the deficit, poverty, war, crime, and disease in one fell swoop.
Anilof,
Get a calculator. The national debt is ~$15.5 trillion, our GNP is ~$15.5 trillion. It would take the confiscation of all the money in one year to pay the debt off. So how could tax increases on 1% even come close?
When you tell people "You are on your own" some of them will turn to crime to make ends meet. Not sure if that is the case here, but it is a general principle. Some level of social safety net is needed to keep the society from unraveling.
Spike: "It would take the confiscation of all the money in one year to pay the debt off. So how could tax increases on 1% even come close?"
Because you don't pay it off in one year--you pay it off over more than one year. Besides any decrease in the debt is definitely a move in the right direction, isn't it? What do you suggest--we add to our debt by not increasing revenue on the top 1% who can afford it--and who are able to be in the top 1% because of the benefits of living in this great country?
Spike, actually the nation's debt has been over $16 trillion and climbing. If elected Obama promises to cut the $6 trillion he added to the debt in half! The funny thing is that many people believe that lie! lol
I don't believe Obama, I think he's a fool and will say anything to keep ripping us off!
Vote Romney/Ryan so more people wont have to resort to mugging for school clothes and even food! The government can't take care of everyone like BO promises!
"...Because you don't pay it off in one year--you pay it off over more than one year..."
How many years? The idea of increasing the taxes on 1% of the people will have any meaningful effect on the debt is ridiculous. Just Robin Hood BS.
There are many ways to cut the deficit. But someone will complain.
What does a billion dollar man do with his money? Find ways to make another billion, cause you gotta keep up with the Trumps and the Gates.
The lady the guy hit a lick on was about 30.
Give me a break...the guy is a common thief. School clothes??? Not food for my starving kids!!!! If he went to the Salvation Army he could get all the school clothes he needed. He is a common criminal and society has places where he will be given clothes and free schooling.
Well until more of the story comes out you don't know it wasn't for a starving kid that only gets a good meal at school.
The guy maybe thug or just driven to desperation. too early to know.
Thank God this rush to judgment and internet lynching is not part of the justice system.
School clothes? I don't believe it. Unless you mean that he wanted those $600 Jordan's that his Moms can't afford to buy him.
I guess donated clothes aren't what they use to be. No more name brand clothes being donated, only cheap crap from walmart. When you're at that age, you've got to be in style to fit in with the in crowd I suppose.
Ya, I don't believe this for a second.
If his family is that poor then they are on welfare and they get all kinds of help from all kinds of organization to buy new clothes.
And if they aren't on welfare there are still all kinds of places to go to get new clothes.
They all wear new clothes and the kids from the middle class, half their clothes come from the seconds, gently used clothes stores.
Salvation Army, police funds, firefighters funds, just for starters. There is one on every street corner begging for funds for the poor.
I'm not defending this guy, but there's no such thing as welfare, especially in Florida. Florida DCF is a broken organization. Toll-free numbers that are never answered, lost paperwork, impossible rules. I'm not exaggerating. I had a friend who fell into hard times and after jumping through hoops that most underprivileged wouldn't even understand how to navigate, was required to do 40 hours/week of community service plus show proof of 15 job interviews per week for $269/month. That's $1.69 per hour, and leaves no time to go on job interviews. It's designed to be impossible. Welfare is a modern myth in the United States. They'll give you some food assistance, but that's it.
We don't care.
Steve100,
"If his family is that poor then they are on welfare"
Wow, just like that, huh?!?
You are full of it. Stereotypes are detrimental to a democratic society.
Willie:
Our government also gives away billions to the fossil fuels industry, corporate farms, and Wall Street. What's your problem with helping their victims?
Shiftlock: " I had a friend who fell into hard times and after jumping through hoops that most underprivileged wouldn't even understand how to navigate, was required to do 40 hours/week of community service plus show proof of 15 job interviews per week for $269/month. That's $1.69 per hour, and leaves no time to go on job interviews. It's designed to be impossible. Welfare is a modern myth in the United States. They'll give you some food assistance, but that's it."
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! I had the same experience as your friend. Hope he's doing better. I do not understand this Welfare modern myth in the USA. I seriously doubt any of the Welfare naysayers has actually gone out to apply for and receive it. It IS designed to be impossible.
Just another 47%er trying to get his rightful share.
Just another ignorant Republican, without a clue.
OK, Mittwit, we've heard all that.
"deadbeats" in the republican mind equals the elderly, disabled, war veterans, and those working 40+ hours a week for so little money that they can't make basic living expenses.
There are ligitimate deadbeats out there, but they are far fewer than one might imagine.
What about all our corporate welfare queens? They take far more from us than the poor. FAR MORE!
As PigLizard pointed out in post 4.6: "Our government also gives away billions to the fossil fuels industry, corporate farms, and Wall Street. What's your problem with helping their victims?"
I wonder if he was wearing designer jeans and shoes while doing this? He needed the money for clothes (supposedly) but wonder if he just didn't have enough to replace the expensive stuff kids wear now that shows their cracks and makes them walk funny....
A thief will tell you anything to get what they want, its all lies anyways 99.9% of the time.
More than likely they were needing money for drugs, going out at night or whatever they feel like spending it on.
Getting a real job and earning it is out of the question for most thief's as they don't have the time for a real job when there out all hours stealing, robbing, car jacking, and the list goes on. Plus how many 22 year old even buy anything for their own kids? Most owe more back child support than anything else so buying clothes for there kids just doesn't seem honest to me coming from a crook.
how does one go about running with pants no doubt hanging so low he has to hold em up with one hand?
This is why I keep one hand free with the pepper spray armed and ready.
Probably spent all his welfare money on the black outfit so he could be in 'uniform' mugging people. And, the bit about needing money for school clothes was probably a line, just so he'd get off easy if he was caught.
For you 'pepper spray' folks, if someone intends to harm you in the first place, pepper spray will get you killed. If you intend to fight back, have a bigger gun than your attacker and know how to use it. An armed society is a polite society!
I feel for the guy, Nike Air Max, LeBron X, and Air Jordan’s aren’t cheap.
Aww, what a sad story. Puke!
My parents used to be real bad about "taking in" street people and trying to feed them and "help them" - until the day two of them knocked my father to his knees and threatened my mother, if my parents didn't give them money they would kill my parents. My parents only lost about $200 that day - but they could have lost their lives.
Us kids tried and TRIED to tell Mom and Dad, please, PLEASE stop letting strangers into the house! Feed 'em outside! Don't let 'em IN THE HOUSE WITH YOU!!!
After that happened, they started listening to us, and stopped "taking in" strangers. Now my parents give 'em a few dollars and let 'em go on their way.
My father's still traumatized over what happened that day, and we have to remind him all the time how LUCKY he and Mom are, that they only lost money that day, and not their lives. But it just broke his heart. It really just broke his heart, that someone would be so ugly to him and the love of his life, over a couple hundred bucks.
Even sadder, though, is my parents' ministry to the homeless basically stopped, and all because of a couple of drug addicts. But it scared them so badly, and they were already elderly when that happened.
They were just trying to help people. And those two men scared them so badly, that now they're too afraid to do any REAL good for people.
That's what happens, though.... a couple of people like those drug addicts who threatened my parents, ruining it for EVERYONE ELSE!
To some the value of another is minimal!
He's 22 years old and he needs school clothes? Give me a break.
Probably working on his PHD
Probably needs to get his purple drank on.
I can almost hear it now, "another 'bleeding heart' liberal defending some thug, lazy welfare case...blah...blah..blah." But consider the following. History proves as I will show that successful regimes were smart enough to not do away with "safety nets." In ancient Rome, the masses were provided literally with free "bread and circuses." In the France of Louis XIV there were countless food riots because of fluctuations of the price of bread. Between 1845-50 over 8 million Irish were driven off the land to either starve or emigrate because the Whigs were the Tea Party of their day. In Greece, because of draconian austerity imposed on common people, events like this and other desperate acts are common. If true, much can be said about this incident being more common place as rightwing nut radicals do away with "entitlements" across the board.
In ancient Rome if you got bread you where a slave and trust me it wasn't free. Your blood was the grease for the wheels of democracy just as it is today! With out the poor there would be no rich. With out the working class there would be no Romney class. The President is right you didn't build that, but if you're a fool you will believe you did.
Confussed, you are certainly CONFUSED and DELUSIONAL. Whats the matter, Obama didn't give you a free phone or pay your mortgage for you? I guess everything I have worked for all my life, you did for me so now I must share my earnings with you? The only ones spouting that line of B.S. are those that made bad decisions all their lives and blame someone else or those that feed you that crap just to stay in office. Why don't you have your " God " Obama lead from the front and give his accumulated wealth to those losers that decided to drop out of school, have babies while still unmarried and barely teenagers, rob, steal, and/or sell drugs to their neighbors and children? This is the land of opportunity, but you can't expect it to just be thrown at you. You need to make an effort to accomplish something instead of just being a waste of oxygen and space that lives off others hard work, toil and success.
The mugger is reported to be 6 and he is also hoping to get a new backpack.
Not only is this so wrong, but the mall needs to up their security. In Florida, women have been kidnapped and murdered from malls. Evidently, the security, is less than stellar. I live in Phoenix and at night the malls have roaming security on bikes & segways, in cars, on foot and with the holidays coming I am thankful the malls also provide security personnel for walks to your vehicles. I only go during the daylight hours and park as close as I can to the door.
Wait a minute! What the hell happened? I thought under Obama's ruler-ship all those people wouldn't have to pay their bills, mortgage, rent, gas, or anything associated with school expenses. They wouldn't need to pay for anything, even cell phones! Big Brother Obama would give you everything with a silver lining and you would need to work for anything! So why is this young person supposedly needing to steal for school clothes? What happened, Obama didn't turn out to be the all powerful Messiah like all you sheeple thought? Didn't get all your freebies? Found out you still need to work and earn money like every other responsible citizen? But oh, that's too much like WORK, so you'll just be a true believer in your esteemed Socialist leader and take from those whom worked and earned their way. Go ahead and help Obama redistribute the wealth from those that have worked hard and earned it to the whom have made bad decisions all their lives and now blame everyone else but themselves.
Big Brother Obama would give you everything with a silver lining and you would need to work for anything!
Correction, that should have been " wouldn't " need to work for anything.
You voted for this america ~ you decided less was more. States are tapping out ~ The middle east is about to burn. Obama is sacking our top military brass ~ just like Putin did this week ~ China announced their new leaders as we ll - Its all about to melt down. Good luck to everyone.