Video catches sickening thief mugging unsuspecting churchgoer

A thief has been caught on camera targeting an unsuspecting woman in a car park of her local church.

The video, released by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department in America, shows a thief targeting a 70-year-old lady as she left bible study at her church. In the clip, a car can be seen pulling up next to the lady as she exits a service.

At first, it looks as though the man, 48-year-old Gilbert D. Ostring, Jr., is simply asking the lady for directions. The events unfolded at the Lebanon Church of Christ last week.

The woman appears hesitant at first, but slowly makes her way to the car and to her attacker. It is thought the man initially asked where a nearby shelter was, before launching his cowardly plan.

In shocking scenes, Ostring can be seen reaching his hand out the window and snatching for the lady’s purse. She puts up a fight, but he holds on tightly to the bag. He then begins to drive away, dragging the lady for a short period of time before she falls flat on the concrete. Clearly hurt, the attacker doesn’t stop to see if the woman is okay and leaves her struggling on the floor for some time.

Confused and upset, video captures the moment the woman wipes her face and looks around in disbelief at what’s just happened.

It is thought the attacker is still on the run, with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department taking to Twitter to try and hunt him down. It isn’t the first time he’s attacked vulnerable over-60s.

Here's something that should never happen, much less to a senior citizen leaving a church bible study. The 70-yr-old fell hard to pavement Mon as a man robbed her. Robbery warrant issued for Gilbert Ostring, driving a Dodge pickup. See him? 615-742-7463. https://t.co/tGBPLQ6jgy pic.twitter.com/qIe5v8oSvq

— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) May 3, 2018

“Here’s something that should never happen, much less to a senior citizen leaving a church bible study,” the department wrote. “The 70-yr-old fell hard to pavement Mon as a man robbed her. Robbery warrant issued for Gilbert Ostring, driving a Dodge pickup. See him?”

When the video was shared online, people were quick to blast the attacker for his actions.

One person on YouTube wrote: “I hope they catch this piece of garbage! Having no respect for his elders”.

Another Twitter message read: “I hope this guy is found. And fried. He’s a multiple time offender and obviously has no morals WHATSOEVER”.

A further tweet read: “He’ll find out how much privilege he has if this 70 y/o white woman gets a hold of his ass”.

It’s not the first time an elderly person has been targeted in recent times. In the Australian city of Brisbane, a former police officer was knocked from his wheeler in a brutal mugging last month. A hero shopper also stopped an out-of-control addict from attacking other shoppers in an Aldi supermarket earlier this year.

What do you think? Is enough being done to keep over-60s safe on the streets?