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LYNWOOD (CNS) - A street vendor who has worked in the Lynwood area for more than 10 years was attacked and robbed, and police today were searching for four girls suspected of the attack.
Marilaura Lopez was working in the area of Oakwood Avenue and State Street just before 6:30 p.m. Sunday when the four girls stepped out of a silver sedan, ABC7 reported.
Lopez -- who spoke to reporters in Spanish -- said she thought the girls were there to buy shaved iced. However, two of them held her by her arms and took a bag Lopez secured around her waist that contained her earnings.
Another girl struck Lopez over the head and sent her to the ground, where the group continued beating her.
“There was a moment when I did fear for my life ... so many attacks came to my mind, and I thought they weren't going to stop the blows,'' Lopez told NBC4.
The girls fled the scene in the silver sedan when a man from a nearby house shouted at them, taking with them more than $200 of Lopez's earnings.
Following the assault, Lopez took a photo of the sedan, which had no license plates. Surveillance video from the area showed the sedan driving back and forth on Oakwood just before the attack.
Lopez was hospitalized Sunday night for injuries she sustained during the attack.
She told the ABC7 that she and her husband work 10-hour days, five days a week to support their four children and that it hurt her to lose a day's earnings. However, she said the mental trauma from the attack was worse and she is afraid to return to work while the suspects are still at large.
Mastering Hope, a Lynwood community group focused on supporting low socioeconomic communities, organized a street vending fundraiser to support Lopez and her family. It will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, June 13 at 3127 Oakwood Ave., near the area where she was robbed.
“We're reclaiming the same street where she was attacked,'' Mastering Hope President Audrey Casas told Channel 7. “We're going to have the fundraiser in the same general area ... so she has different memories there.''
Authorities said there are currently no leads in the case, but investigators will return to the area of the attack to search for additional evidence and witnesses.
Anyone with information about the attack was asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
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