Leonel Maya Gutierrez is feeling good, all things considered. Gutierrez is in good spirits, despite being in considerable pain from being shot twice in the arm in a carjacking in Santa Ana. "I feel it two times — pah! Pah! ... Oh yea. Loud . And my ears ... Eeeeeeee!" he said from his hospital bed Tuesday, recalling the violent encounter.
The 54-year-old husband and father says he was ambushed, shot from the back seat of his own truck, by one of three people who he says carjacked him Monday night, after he gave them a ride.
"She told me she wanted a ride, but she's here with two guys," he said.
Gutierrez, a plumber, says a woman approached him in his work truck earlier in the evening, saying she needed some repairs at her home.
Gutierrez says the two exchanged information. Then, a few hours later, the woman called him saying she needed a ride. Gutierrez was surprised to see the woman with two guys when he showed up to pick her up at this parking lot.
"He was just trying to be a good Samaritan, trying to help someone out," said Esmeralda Romero, his daughter.
On Tuesday afternoon, police recovered Gutierrez' truck.
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Despite the terrifying encounter, Gutierrez says he feels lucky his injuries are not more critical.
"Maybe bullet hit me in my stomach or head ... probably a lot different," he said.
