Community Comes Together To Support Longtime Street Vendor Robbed, Assaulted In Lynwood
LYNWOOD (CBSLA) — A longtime street vendor and mother of four experienced a big show of support a week after she was attacked and robbed in Lynwood.
Last Sunday, four women and a male driver approached Laura Lopez's shaved ice cart, snatched her pouch full of cash and assaulted her before taking off. Lopez suffered a neck injury.
"They tried to pull her hip pouch off she then began to scream because she realized what happened. Afterwards, she was assaulted, she was kicked a few times. A neighbor came out and scared off the assailants," said Audrey Casas of the non-profit, Mastering Hope.
Casas helped organize the fundraising event for Lopez.
"She felt very disgraced, humiliated, terrible, broken down," said Casas of Lopez. "To see all of this, she realizes that moment of suffering is bringing her a lot of blessings."
The blessings included artists and people from the community coming together to sell cupcakes, hamburgers, drinks and all kinds of treats to help raise money for Lopez. They also say they wanted to show her that she was not alone.
"You really have to support each other," said Tatyana Villalobos, a neighbor. "If you don't support each other, if you don't support each other here, who else is going to support you?"
Casas says the fundraiser was aimed at ensuring that they replace the money Lopez lost for a couple of weeks until she recovers emotionally.
"But we wanted to do something to bring the community together so that everyone stands in solidarity," Casas added.
Police are still looking for the suspects, but in the meantime, the community says they want people like the suspects to know: when they target an innocent person, the community will be here to stand behind them.
