Woman robbed exiting CVS at Lincoln Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard over weekend
By Sam Catanzaro
A 91-year-old woman was sent to the ER over the weekend after she was attacked by a homeless man in an attempted robbery exiting a Santa Monica CVS store.
According to the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD), on Saturday, November 14, at approximately 10:30 a.m., the officers responded to the CVS located at 1411 Lincoln Boulevard regarding an assault in the parking lot.
The SMPD says officers arrived on scene and located the victim–a 91-year old, female–who had swelling to her right eye and abrasions to her nose, right cheek and right eyebrow area. According to police, the victim stated she did not lose consciousness or fall down during the assault.
The Santa Monica Mirror spoke with a close friend of the victim, who said that the suspect used his shoe to strike the victim.
Officers received detailed information about the suspect involved from witnesses and the victim. Officers located the described suspect in the 800 block of Santa Monica Boulevard and detained him for further investigations.
“Our officers conducted an investigation and found that the suspect, who is a 35-year old male unhoused individual from Nashville Tennessee, approached the 91-year old victim while she was placing her groceries into the trunk of her vehicle. The suspect, Steven Hamilton, asked the victim for spare change. The victim stated she did not have any change at which time the suspect (Hamilton) yelled profanities at the victim, pulled her face mask and struck her three to four times in the face with what turned out to be a shoe. The suspect then fled the scene while still yelling profanities,” said SMPD Lt. Joseph Cortez.
The victim was transported to a local area hospital and the suspect Hamilton was placed under arrest and transported to the SMPD jail and booked for felony elder abuse and held on $56,000 bail.
The friend of the victim says the hospital stay lasted four-five hours and that the victim is now at home.
This is the second recent attack on a senior citizen at a Santa Monica business. On Friday, November 6 at around 5:22 p.m., SMPD officers responded to the Pavilions parking lot at 815 Montana Avenue regarding a purse snatch robbery that left a 77-year-old woman injured.
