SAN JOSE — A parolee has been arrested in an audacious purse snatching in which he ambushed a woman and her child as they walked up the entryway to a building and then violently yanked her and her young daughter down the stairs, an attack captured on security video, according to San Jose police.

Pablo Cabrera Jr., 26, of San Jose, was booked Saturday into the Elmwood men’s jail, where he is being held without bail on suspicion of robbery and violating his parole for a burglary conviction, police said.

“This was very brazen and very cowardly,” police Chief Eddie Garcia said. “In the video, how violent he was, with no care of the child, it resonated with all of us. We’re happy to get him off the street.”

Investigators reported that when they searched Cabrera’s home after his arrest, they found property they say was stolen in other, similar robberies. They also suspect that Cabrera targeted “Asian females carrying expensive purses,” police said.

“Cabrera attacked victims from behind, grabbed their purse, and ran to his car,” police said about his alleged modus operandi.

In the May 6 robbery captured on security video, a woman and her young daughter are walking up a stairwell at an office complex on Towers Lane just after noon, when a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and red flannel pants grabs at the woman’s purse.

In doing so, he pulls the woman down the stairs with the purse, and also the young girl, who was holding on to her mother’s hand. Both victims virtually fly down the staircase and out of the video frame.

SJPD robbery detectives canvassed the area and recovered security footage of the attack, as well as other surveillance video that showed a black four-door Lexus sedan leaving the area. Police said the detectives soon found links between the descriptions of the suspect and the car and other reported purse snatching incidents in the city, and identified Cabrera as their suspect.

Saturday, police arrested Cabrera at his home in San Jose. Based on evidence police say they found at the home, they believe he robbed at least four other women in similar fashion to the May 6 incident. The woman and child suffered minor injuries, police said.

The case remains under investigation. Anyone with information about the case can contact Detective Daren Reinke at 408-277-4166 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP or a svcrimestoppers.org.