ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 25, 1995 TAG: 9512260057
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-7 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS
A 33-year-old tourist from Dryden, Va., was shot and killed Sunday when she and her parents chased thieves who had stolen her pocketbook as the family took pictures of a historic cemetery.
The woman's name was withheld until her family could be notified.
Police said the woman and her mother had gotten out of a van about noon Sunday outside of St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, while the woman's father stayed in the driver's seat.
Two men darted up and grabbed the woman's pocketbook.
The two women ran after the purse snatchers, and the victim's father drove after them. One gunman turned and fired several shots, hitting the daughter in the chest and hitting the van's windshield and hood, police said. The van veered into a fence.
The woman died a short time afterward at Charity Hospital. Neither of her parents was injured.
The two gunmen jumped into a dark blue or black utility truck and sped away.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 32 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB