What could or should have been done differently to prevent this from happening to this poor woman from a martial artist perspective?

Be aware of surroundings. That was the woman's single most preventable mistake. Had she seen the perps, she could have yelled for help.

The environment has CCTV, and appears to be a museum of some sort. Such attracts older people, making a ripe victim aquarium. There should have been more security, and apparently, was devoid of it.

It is easy to say the victim should not have had the purse, or taken martial art lessons, or carried a gun. Why should the victim be held accountable for fault? While we may be responsible for our own safety, the woman was in what appeared to be a facility that should have employed more security, and that was a huge fail.

I think the woman couldn't have done more than just be aware.

EDIT: There is little she could have done by herself against the perps. Here are some things I would teach:

1. Learn to fall and get back up

2. Watch your demeanor - don't act like a victim, act like you'd put up a fight

3. Carry a cane

4. Carry a personal alarm, whistle, or electronic noisemaker gadget

5. Pepper spray or the like, particularly if it had a fluorescent dye that could help identify the attackers later

6. Travel in numbers

7. Clothing should be conducive to getting up and walking or running away - nix the high heels, etc

8. If you are without a weapon, everything about you can be used as a weapon - pencils, chairs, etc.

I don't advocate guns in churches, or any crowded places. So much can go so wrong - especially if you aren't an expert shooter. That is true even outside of church. If you are going to carry a gun, make yourself an expert. You should be making weekly (or more) trips to a gun range and learning not just how to shoot, but to learn tactical positions, holding the gun, keeping the gun - everything about the gun. And you should be practicing it. The samurai of yore didn't just take a weekend sword class and then went out on a battlefield. They practiced their whole lives.

The gun in churches thing, after a little research, depends on the jurisdiction, apparently. For example, in Georgia, you can be fined up to $100 if the church doesn't allow one to carry a weapon there. So it depends on being caught, and whether or not the church is cool with it.

http://www.georgiacarry.org/cms/georgias-carry-law...

According to this year-old article, half of US states allow concealed carry in a church:

http://gunwars.news21.com/2014/across-the-nation-g...

Regardless of that, she was an elderly lady. Her physical state was far past her prime, meaning if she saw the robbers, regardless of training, she might not have been able to do much without a weapon anyway. It's also entirely possible her senses have been dulled over the years, which would reduce her potential to be aware of her environment.

There's a reason predators attack the very young, the very old, and the sick. They're easy targets.

One of the fundamentals of self-defense is awareness. A fellow named Jeff Cooper created a color-coded system as a way to identify people's mental states, regarding awareness of threats:

http://www.self-defense-mind-body-spirit.com/aware...

Most people walk around in Code White, because most people have a "it couldn't happen to me" attitude, and sadly, the quickest way for this to change is to have something happen to you. However, there are some exercises that can help people increase their level of awareness. My coach will have his students do "what if" scenarios throughout their day. Another drill is to have a friend set your cell phone's alarm for a random interval, and when it goes off, THAT is when you're "attacked" and have to jump into the mindset of self-defense. To make it more relevant to the attack you used as an example, perhaps have students keep count of the people they see entering a room, what they're wearing, how tall they are, etc. Awareness is something that can be trained.

Here are a few of my thoughts.

It starts with awareness as everyone agreed. But being aware might not have been enough. Always have a weapon. She should have the weapon where it is ready to use. There is no time to try to find a weapon. It should be in hand even if her hand is in her purse. The weapon can be pepper spray. I like Possum pepper spray even better. I may have to see where I can purchase that for my wife. Here pepper spray is hidden. Maybe have some type of stun gun that is concealed like in some lip stick or key ring. We know having a pen, sharpie, nail file are good, but that might have gotten her hurt. Pepper spray or some type of stun gun can give her time to escape. Make sure you test the batteries before you leave on your stun gun. The sound alone will run most people off. But having them briefly incapacitated is great. It does require strength, speed, etc. It doesn't require you to have to ability to fight off bigger or stringer people. There are stun guns that are hidden in what looks like cell phones, lip stick, key rings, etc. It doesn't require a lot of training to use. I have personally given these things to my wife and taught her to carry them.

Mentalities that will lead to better natural reactions.

One of the core mistakes that I see in martial arts forums in my opinion, is that they don't discuss about mentalities and many are even trying to diminish them.

Edit: In relation with the updates, I agree that someone needs to have something to stop an attack. In a matter of fact you don't need martial arts to realize that someone is behind you and you can not really expect that someone will walk around all the time looking left, right, behind e.t.c when and if someone is coming to attack him/her. Even if the old lady was realizing what was going to happen, she doesn't seem to have the fitness levels to be able to escape.

The way that someone in her age and fitness levels, can stop an attack, is by good natural reactions that may lead his/her way into things and do something to stop the attack, intimidate the attackers, taking advantage of something around him/her e.t.c.

Building psychology in a way, that can lead to better natural reactions, helps, in my opinion.

Edit 2: There are some feeling drills, either in the form of prearranged movements or free flow of movements, where people touch hands and practice from there. The scope is to feel the attack, so when you feel something you react accordingly. Here is a video, the guy in the video is not exactly the youngest guy around either:)

Now he is more than 90 years old and he is still active.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvnas8sC4Fw

Rule number one of martial art- Be aware.

Rule number one of practical self-defense - NEVER stand or sit with your back to a door or opening to the room you are in. ALWAYS look and identify anyone who comes into a room or within reach of you.

She was totally unaware of what was going on around her and who was there....

She was not paying any attention to the door way through which people entered the building.

She did not notice or pay any attention to the two young men who entered.....

One must wonder what type of neighborhood this occurred in.....

If she had been aware of her surroundings and of those entering, perhaps she may have been able to evade them.