(NBCLA) A street vendor who was selling corn and raspados was brutally attacked by four women in Lynwood.
The attacked occurred Sunday near the corner of Oakwood Avenue and State Street, close to Plaza México. Through tears, Marilaura López, who sells corn and raspados, said she felt the fear of never seeing her children again during the robbery.
“It was a moment of frustration and fear that I do not wish on anyone,” she said. “It is a humiliation to hear that they are laughing at how they are beating you. It is very ugly.”
López said that four women got out of a gray car without license plates, which she managed to photograph.
“They were four very young brown people, I estimate them to be between 16 and 20 years old,” López said.
[Editor’s note: “Sheriff’s officials describe the suspects as four Black women and a Black male driver who fled the scene in a four-door, gold Buick from the early 2000s,” reports KTLA.]
According to López, the young women approached her as if to buy a raspado. That’s when the assault began.
“One woman approached me from one side and another from the other, and they grabbed my hands to take away the bag where I carry my money,” said López.
She was robbed more than $200 — her whole sales for the day when she had received a lot of tips.
…
According to the University of Southern California Annenberg, Los Angeles County police reported a 336% increase in the past decade in assault and robbery cases against street vendors.
