Police arrest career criminal after woman held at knifepoint at busy Home Depot parking lot

ATLANTA — Atlanta police say they have caught the man who is accused of robbing a woman at knifepoint in broad daylight outside a very busy Home Depot store.

Police say they used surveillance video to arrest Steve White, 65, a career criminal who has a rap sheet dating back decades.

Investigators told Channel 2′s Tom Regan that White ambushed the woman in the parking lot right after she had loaded items into her car.

“He kept telling me he was going to kill me,” the victim said, asking not to be identified.

She said White jumped into her car and robbed her at knifepoint.

“Like a hunting kind of knife, in his right hand, that came straight to my throat and said he was going to kill me,” the woman said.

During a news conference Thursday, Atlanta said White has been in out of jail since 1974 for numerous crimes.

“It ranges from misdemeanors to felonies,” Lt. R.P. Stephens with the Atlanta Police Department said.

The victim says he threatened her for 10 minutes, demanding money and a bus ticket.

“He would push up against me and I kept talking and I’m like, ‘You don’t want to hurt me,’” the victim said.

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Police said White stole the woman’s money from her wallet and a necklace, and inflicted minor cuts on her before limping away.

Investigators scoured surveillance video from the area and were finally able to identify White.

They eventually arrested him in downtown Atlanta.

“We arrested him for an unrelated warrant. We continued working the investigation and we were able to identify his as the attacker of the woman from Home Depot,” Stephens said.

“I mean, I would say internally, I was praying a lot,” the victim said.

Police praised how the victim handled a potentially deadly encounter.

“She was incredibly brave, and she protected herself the best way she could, given the circumstances she was in,” Stephens said.

Atlanta police say they are looking into other street crimes the suspect may have committed.

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