Great-grandmother fights back against alleged carjacker outside N. Harris Co. store, family says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- An 83-year-old great-grandmother tried to fight back during a violent carjacking Thursday morning outside of a grocery store in the Aldine area.

Lydia Sanchez is out of the hospital and nursing a badly swollen knee, split lip, and sore rib cage.

According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, she was leaving the La Michoacana on Aldine Mail Route at about 8 a.m. when she was attacked. Her son said she did not go down without a fight.

"She ended up biting him, and my mom had a good hold on him," Lee Sanchez explained.

The suspect yanked her out of her car and threw her to the ground. He then sped off. Her purse, with a large amount of cash, was still inside.

"She's doing her grocery shopping. She's 83 years old. Why?" her daughter, Evelyn Garza, asked. "To attack an elderly person like that. We want him caught."

The suspect drove to a nearby shopping center not long after the carjacking. Surveillance cameras caught his next moves. He parked behind Manny's Mexican Grill and Seafood Restaurant on E. Mount Houston. He engaged with a delivery driver and then checked the door handle of the restaurant's truck. Next, he casually walked away carrying a bag and abandoning Sanchez's stolen vehicle.

Thursday afternoon, the car was back in her driveway, but she was traumatized and injured.

"We've got to focus on her healing," her son said.

Fiercely protective, her husband and children are upset that the grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of five had to endure such violence.

"Whoever has information, please call the cops," Garza said.

Anyone with information about the carjacker is urged to contact the Harris County Sheriff's Office or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

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