The landscaper who was shot during last week’s deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego is breaking his silence, saying he’s “the luckiest guy on the planet.”
Tafu Letuli’s truck was parked on Salerno Street in Clairemont, where he was working, when police said the teen killers drove by and started shooting at him.
Police said one of bullets hit the 52-year-old man him in his safety helmet.
In the statement below issued by his lawyer friend, Letuli said, “If not for my helmet … I would probably not be alive today.”
A bullet shattered his helmet and sent blood running down his face, the statement reads. He was treated and released from a hospital.
The 52-year-old man said his “heart goes out to the victims,” and “thanked god for protecting him,”
stating he feels “fortunate and sad at the same time … wondering why me, I’m just a tree trimmer.”
Read Letuli’s full statement below:
