CRIME AND THE ELDERLY OF L.A. : Violence in the Autumn of Life : ELIZABETH HOLT : ‘She Never Thought Something Like That Would Happen to Her . . .’

It was Christmas Eve and Elizabeth Holt was eager to buy a last-minute gift.

The 78-year-old retired file clerk from Torrance had been invited to the home of a relative for dinner on Christmas Day and didn’t want to arrive empty-handed.

Holt had just recovered from a broken wrist, which she had suffered in a fall, and was finally able to drive again. She left home early that morning, hoping to beat the holiday shopping crowd. It was only 9 a.m. when she pulled her Dodge Colt into the parking lot of Del Amo Fashion Center, several blocks from her apartment. With her purse over her shoulder, she hurried toward the See’s Candy store.

A teen-ager, who had been sitting in a van in the parking lot, ran up behind Holt, yanked her purse from her arm and shoved the elderly woman to the pavement, according to police. Holt’s purse contained $40 and some credit cards.

A younger person almost certainly would have recovered from the injuries suffered in such an incident. But Holt’s bones had become fragile with age, and so her pelvis was broken and her shoulder was dislocated. She also suffered a severe head injury.

Holt briefly regained consciousness in the hospital and spoke to a neighbor, Joan Williams, who had become a surrogate daughter to the elderly woman.

“She was really upset,” Williams said. “She never thought something like that would happen to her. . . . She was really a trusting person.”

Shortly after speaking to her friend, Holt fell into a coma. On Jan. 5, she died.

Tommy Yoon, 19, has been charged with murder-robbery in connection with Holt’s death and is scheduled to stand trial Oct. 31. Damian Cogan, 18, a passenger in the van, pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to five years in prison.

A 16-year-old girl who drove the van admitted to robbery in Juvenile Court, but her sentence was not disclosed.

“The crime is absolutely despicable,” said Denis Petty, head deputy district attorney in Torrance. “They were picking on a particularly vulnerable victim.”