Two taco stands were robbed at gunpoint in South LA. Mekahlo Medina reports for the NBC4 News on June 2, 2023.
Five taco stands in South Los Angeles have been targeted by armed gunmen since Sunday.
Esteban Jimenez has a makeshift garage kitchen where he gets the ingredients prepped for his and his wife’s one-month-old taco stand business.
Anacely Cristobal Antunez says the small business started after they saved enough money working for other vendors for years, everything was going well until last night.
Jimenez says two armed gunmen demanded everything as they held up the stand, taking off with about $700 dollars they worked all night earning making tacos. Luckily no one was hurt.
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"We only have a small business that we just started about a month ago," Antunez said.
But Antunez said she was afraid and knows it’s unsafe at times but they have to work everyday.
Manuel Marroquin, who operates a food truck on the same intersection, and says vendors are on high alert, especially after this violent armed robbery Sunday night.
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Surveillance video showed two armed men jamming a gun into a worker’s head before taking off with the cash.
Vendors say they are trying to move to more cashless methods like Venmo to avoid being a target.
Marroquin said some vendors are also arming themselves.
“There are a lot of other truck vendors that carry pieces on them for the same reason,” Marroquin said. “You got be carrying something for protection these days.”
