Man orders tacos, then robs food cart vendor

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- A food vendor was held up in broad daylight at a busy intersection in West Haven Friday.

Now, police are looking for a suspect and a vendor is happy the only thing he lost today was a little money.

What began as a normal Friday for Jose Sequen at the La Patrona food cart, changed dramatically in a split second.

"I'm here every day..here every day, selling food," said Sequen.

He says a man walked up to the window and ordered five tacos, when he turned around to begin cooking the guy jumped into the cart holding a black handgun.

"He said 'give me money, give me the money'...what...he shows me the gun, 'you don't give me the money I will kill you,'" said Sequen.

The food cart had only been open about a half hour when the hold-up occurred, and the robber got away with perhaps $80 at most.

Sequen tells News 8 he's parked his truck at the same spot on First Avenue for about a year, and this is the first time he's been robbed.

Carolena Roman also works at La Patrona. She wasn't on the job when the cart was robbed, but the incident will be on her mind the next time she comes to work.

"I need to work, I need to work," said Carolena Roman. "I have family, I need to do something.

"But it's going to be hard to come back," asked News 8's Keith Kountz.

"Exactly," Roman said.

A couple hours removed from the hold-up Sequen is still a bit shaken, but thankful that nobody was hurt on what should have been just another Friday.