An attentive man helped Redmond police nab a purse snatcher yesterday morning.

At around 11 a.m., the witness saw the suspect in the Trader Joe’s parking lot off of Redmond Way, looking around to make sure other people weren’t watching and stole an unattended purse from a shopping cart outside. A woman had left it there by accident, according to Jim Bove, Redmond police spokesperson.

The witness was in his car and chased after the man and confronted the man near Wendy’s down the street from Trader Joe’s.

“The suspect returned the purse to the witness and thankfully there was no physical altercation,” Bove said.

The suspect told the witness that he was having financial difficulties and even showed the witness a PSE bill he had in his pocket. The witness noticed the man’s name on the bill. The two men began walking back to Trader Joe’s to locate the owner of the purse when the suspect ran off.

The witness then called police and about 30 minutes later, police officers found the suspect in the nearby QFC parking lot where he was arrested for investigation of theft in the third degree.

The woman returned to the store and got her purse back.