Wheelchair-bound 86-year-old goes off on purse snatcher

"I'd like to put a bullet through her brains and feed it to the animals," Bernice Starnes said about the woman who stole her purse. "That b***h don't know me!"

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

Bernice Starnes, who is 86, has become a community staple in the Bronx. She sits outside in her wheelchair to pass her days and is always sure to say hello to the people who walk past her.

But on Sunday, a woman walked up to her to say hello for a very different reason.

“She came up to me and I said good morning,” Starnes said “She said, ‘oh it is a good morning,’ then grabbed my pocketbook and started to run.”

Starnes tried to get herself out of the wheelchair to run after the woman. She was a track star in high school, but unfortunately, age had sapped her speed, and she had to sit back down, unable to chase after the purse snatcher.

The woman was able to get away with $115, in addition to Starnes’ bank card.

“I’d like to put a bullet through her brains and feed it to the animals,” Starnes said as she went off on the purse snatcher in a now viral video in which she also said, “That b***h don’t even know me!”

But on Monday, Starnes got another unexpected visit as she was sitting outside: NYPD officers out of the 48th precinct, who had pooled together their own money to replace what she lost.

“God bless them and keep them safe,” a tearful Starnes said.

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