‘Defenseless’ California ice cream man trying to raise money for autistic son robbed for 3rd time in 1 week

An elderly local vendor who sold ice cream to help support his family and pay rent was robbed at gunpoint in California for the third time in a week.

Don Juan, 82, was selling ice cream around noon Monday in Oakland when two armed thieves jump out the backseat of a black Ford Edge and stripped the man for all he had, Citizen app footage showed.

Another man briefly stepped out of the passenger-side seat as the thieves took off with $120, according to NBC Bay Area. 

The disturbing encounter is the third time in one week Juan was mugged as he pushed his ice cream cart around.

Juan told the outlet this was also the eighth time in 10 years he’s been robbed while doing all he can to raise money for his autistic son in Peru.

Oakland police are still investigating but have no suspects in custody as of Wednesday.

A GoFundMe page has been created for Juan to help recover the funds he lost in the scary ordeal.

More than $13,670 has been raised for Juan — surpassing the $5,000 mark that was initially listed on the site.

“Don Juan has informed us that he is unable to pay his rent this month, amongst his other living expenses,” the page said. “As a defenseless man, he is left with no choice but to withstand this behavior from these criminals and keep it pushing day by day to make a living.”

A handful of Oakland organizations as well as street vendor activist Alex Enamorado have already opened their arms to the elderly man, with the community already having put together a buyout of his ice cream.

“This is definitely wrong on so many levels. #ProtectStreetVendors,” Enamorado said on Instagram.

Incidents of vendors being robbed at gunpoint in California have been on the rise.

Two armed robbers held up a pair of taco stands in Los Angeles, which left two people injured during the shootout in June.

A week prior to that, LAPD officials said three incidents on May 28 involving two different groups held up taco trucks from about 11 p.m. to 12:25 a.m.

They said the thieves made off with around $1,800 from the two hauls.