A woman’s purse was snatched shortly after 7 p.m. Friday while she was shopping in the Walmart plaza in the 700 block of W. Oglethorpe Highway. She said she was loading items into her vehicle when it happened.
Hinesville Police Department Detective Butch Kesner said a black man, approximately 6 feet tall, wearing a camouflage hoodie and pants grabbed the woman’s purse as she put packages in her car trunk.
The woman and three men who witnessed the incident chased the suspect into the woods behind the strip mall. The suspect dropped the contents of the purse — including cash the woman had been carrying — as he ran into the woods. The police department dispatched a K-9 unit to the scene, but it lost the suspect’s scent.  
 Witnesses said they saw the suspect loitering in the parking lot near Walmart.
Anyone with information should call the Hinesville Police Department at 368-8211 or dial 911.