A 94-year-old tried to help a younger woman, but was robbed and assaulted in her St. Paul home, police said.

On Friday about 1:35 p.m., a woman who appeared to be about 25 years old went to the door of a Dayton’s Bluff homeowner and told her she “was in desperate need to charge her cell phone,” according to a police report.

The older woman allowed her in to come in her Cypress Street home to charge her phone. The younger woman “attempted to distract the elderly female and walk around the home,” the report said.

When the young woman was standing next to the homeowner, she grabbed a glass necklace stand full of necklaces and put them in a bag.

The 94-year-old demanded the necklaces back, but the younger woman reached into her bag and pulled out a “small metal crowbar type device and struck the elderly female in the left ear causing bleeding, bruising and swelling,” the police report continued.

The woman fled the home, “threatening to kill the elderly female,” according to the report. She got away with 10 to 14 silver and gold chains, some with pendants hanging on them, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

“It’s incredibly disheartening to think someone who would prey on the elderly, especially to take advantage of their generosity,” Linders said.

The suspect was described as being about 25-years-old, black, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with an average build. She was wearing a pink sheer shirt, through which a lighter pink bra was visible, and heavy makeup on her face. She was carrying a large dark-colored, possibly black, open-topped shoulder bag.