Houston police identify suspect accused of robbing elderly woman at gunpoint in her own garage

Houston police identified a 20-year-old man on Monday as the suspect who terrorized an elderly woman in a brazen robbery outside of her home last month. 

Michael Coates is now wanted on charges of aggravated robbery of an elderly person. 

The robbery happened on the afternoon of Feb. 11, when Coates allegedly approached the 72-year-old woman as she walked into her garage in west Houston. 

Video of the incident released by police shows Coates, who was dressed in black with his face covered, allegedly pointing a handgun at the victim and demanding her car keys. 

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Her husband, who is 75 years old, rushed outside the front door as his wife started screaming, at which point Coates allegedly pointed the gun at him and repeated his demand for the car keys. 

They suspect then entered the couple’s home and grabbed the keys for their BMW sedan before speeding off. The vehicle was located the next day near an apartment complex about six miles away from the couple’s home. 

Detectives received a tip about Coates after posting the video of the robbery online, leading to the arrest warrant. 

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It’s just one of a disturbing series of robberies that have taken place in the Lone Star State’s largest city in recent months. 

Another Houston homeowner was followed home by two suspects in January who rushed him with a handgun in his garage and demanded his car keys. The man handed over a bag containing the keys to one of the suspects, who then rushed off, preventing his accomplice from being able to steal the car. 

On Feb. 13, two teens followed a woman from a bank after she had withdrawn $4,300 in cash for a trip to see family in Vietnam. 

Once she got out of her car, 17-year-old Joseph Harrell allegedly approached her and demanded the money, then bodyslammed her on to the concrete, leaving the victim paralyzed. Harrell and 19-year-old Zy’Nika Ayesha Woods were arrested on Friday in that incident.