[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]hree men in hooded sweatshirts boarded a taco truck last month brandishing handguns and harassing line cooks. The suspects jumped on looking to rob the till after 3 am when late-night food trucks typically are wrapped for the night.
When they realized the night's take had been locked away, they pistol whipped one of the employees and made all the workers empty their pockets of cash and cell phones.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles Police Department released surveillance footage of the July 14 incident which occurred on the 1300 block of West Manchester Boulevard. LAPD has no suspects and said they released the video with hopes that it would lead to an arrest.
You can see the video below.
The incident is the latest in a string of violent robberies against street vendors.
In May, a former Taco Madness “Best in Show” winner, Tacos Cuernavaca, was robbed at gunpoint in a similar incident in East Los Angeles. At the time, taquero Osvaldo Martinez told L.A. Taco that three assailants wearing dark sweatshirts jumped on the truck near 2 am.
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.
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.
RELATED: Video Captured Robbery Attack that Left Oaxacan Street Vendor Badly Beaten
Jennifer Velez contributed to this report.
