ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Deputies are looking for the gunman responsible for shooting an apparent Good Samaritan in his Orange County neighborhood.
Deputies say the victim, who was trimming his neighbor's trees, confronted three suspicious men Sunday afternoon on Cherry Grove Circle in Lake Gloria Preserve near the Florida Mall who knocked at the door of a home. The victim approached the trio and asked if they lived in the subdivision.
"I say do you live here? They say yes we live here. I say where? They say right over by the pool. Right away I knew they were lying," said Presner Dejuste, who said he then told the trio if they didn't leave he would call police.
Dejuste said one of the men then pulled out a gun, fired one bullet, and tried to fire a second time.
"He click to shot me again, the gun no go off. Thank God," Dejuste said. "When gun no go off, he run behind this house right here."
Dejuste screamed because he was scared but also in shock. Paramedics took him to the hospital where doctors realized the bullet never punctured his body, just grazed his back leaving a gash.
Orange County sheriff's deputies told Local 6 two burglaries have occurred in the subdivision in just the past couple of weeks.
"It's been this whole month, they broke in over there, here, so everyone is top of it," said Wilbur Mejia. "We all have families here."
Dejuste said that's why he was suspicious of the young men. He regrets engaging them but said he didn't expect so much violence so quickly. He was just looking out for his neighbors, like he's done for the past 14 years he's lived in Lake Gloria Preserve.
"When you see some incidents like that have to be more careful, but at the time I wasn't thinking," said Dejuste. "I could have lost my life, you know."
Deputies described one of the men as a Hispanic male, 19-21 years old with short, curly black hair and wearing blue jeans and a dark colored shirt. The second man was described by deputies as a Hispanic male, 19-21 years old with black curly hair in a "blow out hair cut, wearing a grey shirt, denim jeans, camouflage backpack and armed with a chrome handgun. The third man was described as a Hispanic male, 19-21 years old with short black curly hair and wearing khaki shorts and a black shirt.