Madison police are looking for a woman who stole a purse from another woman as she put groceries into her car after visiting a grocery store on the city's north side.

The incident happened at around 2:15 p.m. on Monday in the parking lot of Pierce’s Northside Market on North Sherman Avenue.

The woman told police thatshe was putting groceries into her car when a stranger approached her and asked for the time and then asked for some change.

Police said right after the stranger did this, she grabbed the purse from inside the woman’s car and took off in an aqua- or teal-colored getaway car. Police said there appeared to be two others in the car with the thief.

Police describe the suspect as a black woman, between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a medium to slender build. She had a dark complexion, short hair and was wearing a black hat and a black jacket.

A burglar or burglars caused about $5,000 damage to doors, cabinets and alarm systems at an East Washington Avenue strip mall Thursday night, according to the Madison Police Department.

Police said the burglar or burglars entered through a back door of one the businesses. They said other doors were pried open leading to a common interior hallway which connects all building tenants.

Initial reports indicate small amounts of money were taken during the break-ins, and that property damage caused by the rummaging was much more significant.

Royal Pets Inc., Payday USA, Isthmus Eye Care and the Sandhill Pet Clinic were all victimized, police said.

Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 608-266-6014.

A 51-year-old man is accused of choking and punching his ex-girlfriend and then ramming her son with a car on the city's north side, according to the Madison Police Department.

Police officials said that the man was arrested at about 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday. They said he was hiding in the basement of a home on the 3700 block of School Road.

Police said the man was wanted in connection to a series of crimes that took place Monday night.

Violence began when the man's ex-girlfriend agreed to get into his car and speak with him, police said. The woman said the man drove to a Packers Avenue parking lot, where he punched and choked her after she refused to rekindle their relationship.

During the attack, the woman said the suspect produced a knife and threatened to kill her and her family, according to the police report.

The woman was able to get away from the suspect, but he followed her to her apartment in the 3700 block of Packers Avenue, police said.