Police are hoping someone will recognize two young men pictured in Publix surveillance photos as they knocked over an elderly shopper.
Investigators say the two stole energy drinks and were running away from a loss prevention store security officer when they ran into 82-year old Jeanne Elizabeth Brown. Brown was loading groceries into her car with the help of a Publix employee when the two shoplifters knocked her to the ground – and kept on running.
“She doesn’t deserve this. She’s just the nicest woman,” said Carly Oliver, Brown’s next-door neighbor in Maitland.
We’re told Brown was alert after the incident but was taken to the hospital with possible broken bones. Brown’s neighbor said she was still recovering from recent hip-replacement surgery.
“She’s been relatively immobile, so when she does get out of the house it’s just to get out of the house," Oliver said. "And then of course this happens, so it’s just a real shame.”
Because the two suspects appear to be about high school age, security officials at the Seminole County School District even circulated the pictures to principals of nearby high schools to see if they could recognize the two.
“I think it’s just senseless really, especially over just cans of soda or Red Bull or whatever it was," Oliver said. "She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and just really senseless for those kids to be stealing.”
Investigators said the two suspects were last seen Tuesday evening in the Market Square area at State Road 436 and Howell Branch Road in Casselberry.