Houston police are asking for the public’s help to identify two young men who assaulted and robbed an elderly man with a cane in broad daylight.
The attack occurred on Sept. 22 at around 3:45 p.m. near a cell phone store at the 8700 block of Tidwell Rd.
The two men—one of whom was wearing a mask—first approached 70-year-old Thomas Shelby while he was walking to get a soda.
Shelby said the man with the mask claimed Shelby owed him a small amount of money.
“[The masked man] said, ‘You owe me $25,’ and I said, ‘I don’t owe you $25. I haven’t ever seen you before in my life,’” Shelby told KPRC 2. “He said, ‘Well, shake your pockets.’ I already knew what it was then.”
Before he was attacked, Shelby was able to alert a nearby security guard sitting in a chair. He told the guard he was being robbed and asked them to call the police. Shockingly, he says the guard wouldn’t do it.
After Shelby was unable to get help, the thieves came back. This time, the confrontation went beyond talking.
One of them struck him across the face with a closed fist. He fell to the ground, and one of the men went through his pockets while the other ripped his cane from his arms and struck him multiple times with it.
“The one with the mask was going, ‘Go in his pockets! Go in his pockets!’ ...I tried to hit one of them with the cane to make him get back. He grabbed the cane, took the cane from me and started hitting me with the cane. The other one [was] kicking me. The one with the cane hit me in my eye with the cane. That’s when I had to let my pockets go.”
The thieves made away with Shelby’s cigarettes and $600 cash, which he had just acquired to pay his rent. They also destroyed his phone during the attack, so he had to get a new one.
As far as paying his rent goes, Shelby said he still hasn’t figured out what he’ll do.
“I got to see if I can get help from a relative,” he said.
He added that he hopes the men who attacked him face justice.
“I think it’s really bad what they’re doing,” he said. “As young as they are, they’re healthy enough to have jobs where they can earn their own money, and they don’t need to be on the streets taking advantage of old folks.”
One of the suspects wore a black hoodie with khaki pants and SpongeBob slides. The other wore a purple balaclava with a white tee shirt and black Champion athletic pants.
Houston Police Department released footage of the attack, which lines up with Shelby’s version of the events.
Crime Stoppers is offering up to $5,000 for any information leading to the identities and arrests of these robbers. To report, you’re asked to call 713-222-TIPS (8477) or go online.