Armed robbers stormed into a Long Beach taco truck and assaulted an employee, leaving the owners shaken just a week before Christmas.
Los Bros Tacos truck, which has operated for five years, is a family-owned business located on Junipero Avenue and 7th Street in Long Beach.
“I was chopping the produce when they got in the truck, and I didn’t see them coming, only when they pulled out the gun,” Mr. Antonio told the news station through a Spanish translator.
The surveillance video shows two men entering the truck and surrounding Mr. Antonio with a firearm.
One grabbed Mr. Antonio’s phone from his back pocket and then punched Mr. Antonio, who collapsed to the ground.
The robbers quickly raided the cash register and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash, the news outlet reported.
“Yes, I was scared. I was scared when they got in the truck. I was so scared because of the gun they had. I’ve been scared since that day,” Mr. Antonio said.
The truck’s owner, Augustine Flores, said he is unsure if the area is safe after the incident.
Mr. Flores said his wife and 9-year-old son were inside the truck during the armed robbery, while his other son, Yostin Flores, stood just outside.
“We didn’t want to make them pull the trigger or something,” Yostin told KTLA News. “A bad bullet could’ve hit my brother or the coworker or my dad.”
The elder Flores said he was grateful that no one suffered severe injuries or lost their lives, and that he planned to keep working because his family has bills to pay.
“We need to keep working because this time of the year is the most busy, with Christmas, and we have to pay the rent,” he said. “We need to keep working because we need to make ends meet. We need to pay gas, rent, and insurance. To do this, we need a lot of money. No one is going to help us, so we have to keep going.”
