[dropcap size=big]I[/dropcap]t was a slow, but normal Wednesday night for Osvaldo Martinez, one of the taqueros of Tacos Cuernavaca, a family operated taco truck parked on Whittier Blvd. late nights in East Los Angeles—until he and his nephew, who is also an employee, began packing up early Thursday morning.
As they were cleaning up around 2 a.m. last Thursday, three people showed up to the taco truck with their faces covered, wearing dark sweatshirts and held Martinez and his nephew at gunpoint. One person climbed into the truck where Martinez was and held a gun to his stomach. The thief began cursing and threatening him in Spanish, he told L.A. TACO. The thieves wanted money and they eventually got away with roughly $1,000, leaving Martinez and his nephew unharmed.
The former Taco Madness “Best in Show” winners are the latest street vendors to be robbed at gunpoint. ABC 7 reports that hours before the incident, a similar crime happened not so far away.
In March, a horrible attack in South L.A. that left a street vendor in the hospital with serious injuries was caught on camera. Street vendors, especially those working after dark, are vulnerable to attacks and robberies because their business is to work out in the open without security.
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