Mom robbed at gunpoint in Fiesta parking lot

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Gunmen used their truck to block a mother and her toddler in to rob them in a busy grocery store parking lot.

It happened at the Fiesta Mart on Jensen in northeast Houston on Saturday afternoon.

Joanna Morales had just gotten out of her car with her 3-year-old daughter.

"Good ole Saturday turned out to be a nightmare," said Morales.

They were standing near the trunk when Morales noticed a tan Chevy Avalanche had boxed them in. Within seconds, a man was pointing a gun at her and demanding cash.

"He tells me don't fight it, just go ahead and give me your wallet and I'm like, 'No,'" Morales explained. "He's like, 'You're going to make me do it,' and I'm like, here's my wallet because I saw my little girl and I'm like I'd rather lose that (wallet) than my daughter."

The man jumped in the passenger seat of the truck and the driver sped off. Gone with them was Morales' Social Security card, driver's license and $500 in cash. She was at the Fiesta to pay her bills like she does every Saturday.

"People work hard for their money and for people like this to steal it, is not right," said Morales.

Morales' sense of security is also gone. She now feels the need to warn others.

"To be very careful going anywhere. You don't think it's going to happen to you but you never know," Morales said. "It could have turned out differently and I thank God it didn't."

The mother and her daughter weren't injured.

Houston police are investigating.