The Los Angeles Police issued a warning to street food vendors as an increase in assaults has been reported in the Boyle Heights area.
Officials distributed fliers written in Spanish and English to inform vendors to take care of themselves because some of their colleagues have been the target of armed attacks.
"We have to worry about those who only come to get the fruit," said Alicia Cárdenas, a street vendor of fruit.
According to police, gang assaults have been reported in Boyle Heights in recent months.
"We are trying to alert and inform taco vendors to take precautions to prevent this from happening to them," said Bill Blount, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Blount added that thieves know that some of these businesses handle a lot of cash and can be easy targets.
On the Whittier Boulevard, where the Target store is, three lunch boxes were stormed at the same time.
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The flyers distributed by the officers alert the community about these robberies, in addition to pointing out how important it is to look at details of the suspects, such as height, weight, tattoos or vehicle description, information that could help the officers to find the responsible.
The authorities emphasized that in all cases of assaults, the perpetrators were apparently gang members, and were armed.
The police recommend to the merchants not to let the cash accumulate and to always have a person who is in charge of taking the money from the business several times at night if it is necessary to keep a minimum amount.
