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Birmingham police are trying to identify the man who robbed an 87-year-old woman of her purse after he followed her home from a gas station.

(Birmingham Police Department)

Birmingham police are asking for the public's help identifying the man who robbed an elderly woman after she asked him for help.

The victim, 87-year-old Frances McDougall, was at the Shell on Valley Avenue just before 1 p.m. May 2, said Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards. She saw a man standing nearby and asked him for help removing the gas cap on her vehicle because she didn't have the strength to do so.

The suspect, Edwards said, pumped gas into her vehicle and then followed her to her nearby home. As she pulled into her garage and got out of her car, the man approached her and snatched her purse out of her hand.

He fled in a white Nissan Altima. Police said they determined from surveillance video at the gas that the suspect was also driving the white Nissan Altima there.

Anyone with information on the suspect's identity is asked to call Birmingham robbery Det. Arthur J Wilder III at 205-254-1753 or 205-767-8645.