PHOENIX (AZ Family) — Two Valley brothers will spend eight and a half years behind bars for robbing street vendors in central Phoenix.

Dayron Eriberto Perez Gonzalez and his younger brother, Kevin Carlos Perez Gonzalez, pulled a gun and stole hundreds of dollars in at least five incidents in a month.

Prosecutors believe street vendors have become prime targets for robberies and attacks due to fear of reporting crime.

Community advocates encourage anyone this happened to come forward to gain some measure of justice.

“I think the focus of a lot of these criminals is on cash-intensive businesses and opportunism,” said Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Hutcheson, the prosecutor on the case.

According to court documents, the Gonzalez brothers were approaching street vendors in a non-threatening manner.

“They will either order something or ask for a change. This causes the dealer to shift focus to prepare something or buy something, and that’s usually when the gun shows up,” Hutcheson said.

The two brothers did the same thing at least five times, committing at least four robberies in four days.

“Two of these were the same victim, a child,” said Maricopa County Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell.

Video of the arrests shows both suspects being pursued and captured by a large number of undercover police officers.

Police also found two handguns in the car, court documents said.

“They should not have owned firearms, they should not have possessed them illegally, and they certainly should not have used them to commit these armed robberies,” Hutcheson said.

Jose Guzman, director of a nonprofit organization for crime victims, says many affected people have difficulty contacting police for a variety of reasons.

“This is their only job because they have no papers,” he said. “They think they will report, catch you and send you back to Mexico. They have no chance of getting paid.”

Gabriel Gonzalez was not a victim of these suspects, but he was robbed several times in his 21 years as a street dealer.

“It was around six, at least from what I remember. But if I think about it, it was probably more,” he said.

He’s only reported once, but he says people need to stand up to bring about real change and safety for others.

“I didn’t see how reporting could help the community get the thugs out of the neighborhood,” he said.

In many of these reported cases, victims provided detailed information about the suspects and their cars; prosecutors said that helped them and the police in this case.

Guzman works closely with victims, law enforcement and Silent Witness.

He asks anyone who is a victim to contact him through his organization. Fathers and Families of Crime Victims.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? To report this please click here.

Do you have a photo or video of breaking news? To send us here with a brief explanation.

Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.