Police Probing Vendor’s Slaying Say Attack May Be One of Many

An ice cream vendor stabbed to death during an apparent robbery attempt on the Eastside may be one of many such robbery victims, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Monday.

Alvaro Anaya, 25, was walking home from work when he was confronted by three suspects in an alley behind South Simmons Avenue just after 8 p.m. Sunday night.

The attack occurred shortly after Anaya had sold ice cream to children in the neighborhood. He was transported to Beverly Hospital in Montebello, where he died later that night.

Detectives believe that the suspects may have robbed other street vendors in the area, and that vendors fear “their lives may be in danger if they report the robbery,” a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.