A family is thankful to be alive after witnessing an armed robbery at a south Bakersfield restaurant.

“We were all waiting to be shot,” said Caroline Perez as she describes the terrifying moments her family endured.

The armed robbery occurred at Tacos El Dorado on White Lane Wednesday morning.

Perez, her husband Antonio Iniguez, and their 4-year-old daughter, Miranda, were about to eat when two men with guns walked in and ordered everyone to get down. 

Perez says when she realized what was happening, her gut instinct was to grab her daughter and run. 

"I wanted to run out. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what they would do," said Perez.

The entire incident last less than 4 minutes. Surveillance video captured the men pistol whipping a cashier before taking off with cash. 

Perez said she is surprised no one was seriously hurt, "When they left I said, I said 'they didn't shoot us?'"

But her daughter still fears the worst. "Daddy, I don't want to go back there to eat tacos because they're going to kill us," she told her father.

The family says that while they do not blame the restaurant for what happened, they say it will be a while before they return.