A wave of armed robberies at taco trucks, especially in the Fruitvale district of Oakland, prompted a recent emergency meeting of mobile food vendors attended by 120 vendors. As Oakland North reports, they complain that crooks are treating their businesses “like ATMs,” and one vendor, Teresa Mondragon-Ramirez of Tamales Acapulco, says that she now has to close early, at 5 p.m., for fear of becoming a target.
The vendors are all chipping in for a defense fund, which will help pay for armed security at some locations, as well as surveillance cameras, to help discourage further attacks.
These new measures follow on the January shooting of one taco truck owner, Omar Casillas, and the December shooting death of five-year-old Gabriel Martinez Jr. near his family’s taco truck.
Taco truck owners targeted by criminals, organize defense plan [Oakland North]
