An elderly Brookhaven woman was shot in downtown Brookhaven justbefore lunchtime Saturday when two assailants accosted her andstole her purse, authorities and witnesses said.

According to witness statements, Eva Pullen, 85, of ChippewaStreet, was sitting in her vehicle in a handicapped spot in theparking lot between the Brookhaven Lincoln County Chamber ofCommerce and the Fred’s Dollar Store on Whitworth Avenue whenbrothers Quincy Walker and David Walker allegedly shot her andstole her purse.

Pullen sustained four gunshot wounds and was taken from thescene to King’s Daughters Medical Center by ambulance, saidAssistant Police Chief Nolan Jones. She was transported from thereto the University of Mississippi Medical Center where familymembers told police she is resting in stable condition.

Police Chief Pap Henderson said three men were picked up withinan hour of the crime.

“We brought three in, and we were able to ascertain theinformation that we needed,” Henderson said.

Two of the first initial three were released after questioning,but Quincy Walker, 22, of Brookhaven, was detained at that time.David Walker, age unavailable, was arrested later in the eveningSaturday, Jones said.

The two men were charged with armed robbery and aggravatedassault. They are both currently being held in the Lincoln CountyJail.

“It was very good work on the officers’ part first of all,”Henderson said. “But it’ll show you that when you do your job, thecitizens in this town don’t tolerate this. We had good witnessesthat led to the arrest on one and we knew who the second suspectwas that we were looking for.”

Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Cliff Brumfieldassisted Pullen following the robbery and shooting.

Brumfield said he and his family had stopped by his office topick something up when they heard someone honking a horn. Theyassumed there were some children playing in a car until they saw aman in a motorized wheelchair attempting to help the woman.

“She was laid back in the car, and she was hurt, so we ran overto see if we could help,” Brumfield said. “The men had taken herpurse and she’d been shot, but fortunately BPD and the ambulanceshowed up quickly.”

Inside Fred’s, nothing seemed out of order until someone cameinside and informed store employees of what had taken place in theparking lot.

“Someone came in saying a lady had been robbed and shot in theparking lot,” said a witness. “She was in the car, shot andbleeding, and people were coming from all over the place tohelp.”

Brumfield said when Pullen left the scene in the ambulance, sheseemed to be coherent and was talking.

“And she was well cared-for,” he said. “She was also supportedby the prayers of a lot of people who were there to assisther.”

But still it’s shocking to see something like that happen inbroad daylight in the city’s business district, he said.

“This is nothing you expect to see happen in the downtown area,but sadly these things can happen anywhere,” Brumfield said.

Henderson said that the suspects seemed simply bound anddetermined to rob someone.

“I think that they intended to rob someone personally, based onthe information that I listened to,” Henderson said. “There weresome things that were said before they left that indicatedthat.”

Henderson said he did not want to take a guess as to why anyonewould be so brazen as to shoot someone in broad daylight in themiddle of town.

“Once this information is handled with the DA’s office and inthe court system, we will know at that time why it happened like itdid,” he said. “I don’t want to speculate now.”