Street vendor mugged in front of daughter in South LA

A street vendor is speaking out after being mugged by a group of five masked men in South Los Angeles in front of his daughter, who has autism.

Jose Carbajal, a single father, was attacked and robbed Saturday afternoon on Broadway and Manchester Avenue. He said the thieves took his entire savings, as well as his passport and the registration for his vehicle.

“They took everything,” a tearful Carbajal told NBC4 while clutching his daughter.

Carbajal said he was selling shirts which were laid out when suddenly he felt a weapon from behind and was quickly pulled. 

A witness captured the crime on their cell phone seconds after Carbajal was attacked. The video shows the men running away after they knocked Carbajal to the ground, but the single dad says the beating doesn’t hurt as much as what the men got away with. 

“I held on tightly to my bag to not let them take the money I had because it was my savings, but they took all the money,” he said.

Carbajal said the thieves got away with more than $2,000, money that he’d taken out of the bank earlier in the day and was going to use as a deposit for an apartment for him and his 8-year-old daughter.

“It’s very difficult because my daughter has a special condition and what I most want is to have her in a stable home. I was saving every dollar for that, and losing everything in a split-second hurts,” he said.

The LAPD said the case is under investigation.

For now, Carbajal will continue to live in his Gardena motel room until he can raise the money yet again for an apartment.

“I am going to keep working, and I won’t stop,” he said. “I do it all for my daughter.”