Victim Shot By Car Thief Speaks Out From Hospital Bed
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A 39-year-old man who was shot twice in the stomach by a car thief is speaking out from his hospital bed about his ordeal, saying the gunman "is an animal."
"I feel awful," said Robert Nunez, who was shot twice on both sides of his stomach around 1 p.m. on Saturday. "It's like he is an animal. He is an animal."
Recovering at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Nunez told CBS4's Peter D'Oench "I'm in pain right now. My stomach hurts and my back. I am in pain. I'm lucky to be alive. It's awful. This is really awful. I was afraid, you know, I was afraid for my life. I thought I wasn't going to make it."
Click here to watch Peter D'Oench's report.
Nunez told D'Oench that he had gone to the Quick Mart food store on N.W. 47th Ave. just North of the Palmetto Expressway at N.W. 168th St. to pick up some items.
"I came out and the man was standing right next to my car and at the time I didn't think anything bad about the man," he said. "Then as I approached the car, he wouldn't let me open the door and he said give me your keys. He took out a gun and it seemed like a glock or a .45."
"Then I remember having a little struggle with him and then that's when he shot," he said.
"After he shot me I was looking for help. I was worried he might shoot me again so I ran inside the store and when I got inside the store, I fell to the ground and that is when they called the ambulance," said Nunez.
Surveillance tape from the store showed Nunez stumbling in the Quick Mart store and then collapsing in pain as he asked for help. Other striking images from the tape show customers continuing to shop and stepping around and over him as he lay on the floor before rescue crews arrived.
"I don't remember that," said Nunez. "I just remember being worried as they took me away. I didn't know what was going to happen."
"Right now I do feel like I am recovering slowly," he said. "If anyone sees the person who did this, they should call the media. I would appreciate it."
He said police have some evidence.
"I know they took a bullet out of me," he said. "They do forensics."
Nunez, who is a truck driver with four children who lives in New Jersey, also said he forgives the man who shot him.
"God bless him, you know," he said. "God bless him."
Nunez said he would be at Jackson Memorial Hospital for at least a few more days.
Miami-Dade Police said the thief took off in Nunez's 2001-2004, 2-door, light blue, convertible BMW with a Florida license tag of CVWA13. But Police detective Daniel Ferrin said that car had been recovered in Opa-Locka.
Police said the suspect was a thin, black male who is between 22 and 25 years old and was last seen wearing a skully, a white shirt and black pants.
Anyone with information should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).
