A landscaper shot near the San Diego mosque where two teenagers carried out a deadly shooting last week said he’s the “luckiest guy on the planet” in his first statement.
Tafu Letuli, 52, said he was inches away from meeting a horrible end to his life.
“If not for my helmet, I would probably not be alive today,” he said in the statement, which was issued through his attorney over the weekend. “Every time I think about what happened, a strange feeling triggers a flood of emotions. I feel fortunate and sad, all at the same time. I keep asking myself ‘why me, I’m just a tree trimmer?’”
San Diego police said the landscaper was on a residential street a few blocks from the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18 when he “was shot at,” suffering minor injuries after he was struck on his helmet.
Letuli was “shot at five or six times by” Cain Lee Clark and Caleb Vazquez, the gunmen who killed three men in the attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, said Jerry Suppa, Letuli’s lawyer.
One bullet struck the center of Letuli’s helmet. He “was injured by bullet fragments that shattered his fiberglass helmet,” the statement reads. “He was bleeding from his forehead.”
Blood ran down his face from his upper forehead, just above the hairline, down to his chin, according to the statement. He was treated at the scene, “and later Letuli was treated and examined at the emergency room at a hospital near his home.”
Suppa told NBC News by phone Tuesday that Letuli’s scalp wounds are healing and that he expects to return to work next week. San Diego police kept his helmet as evidence as it contained bullet fragments, Suppa said.
Although he was traumatized, Letuli considers himself “the luckiest guy on the planet,” the statement said. He said he felt “fortunate and sad at the same time,” wondering why him. Letuli added that his heart goes out to the victims and their families.
Among the people who were killed at the mosque was Amin Abdullah, 51, a security guard who officials said played an important role in limiting the loss of life. Also killed were Mansour Kazih, 78, a founding member and caretaker of the mosque; and Nadir Awad, 57, who lived across the street, whose wife was a teacher at the school.
The teenage gunmen were found dead on another street near where Letuli was shot. The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime, police said.
Officials believe the teens met online, where they “appeared to have been radicalized,” Mark Remily, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego field office, said last week.
Investigators looking into their motives are working on authenticating a 75-page document posted online, with sections filled with extremist material espousing anti-Islamic, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ views.
In a statement Monday, the Islamic center said it is “continuing to work with law enforcement and hired security professionals to evaluate additional safety measures and determine the best path forward.”
Suppa told NBC News on Tuesday that he felt compelled to help Letuli, who is his tree trimmer and an expert garage door fixer, by sharing a statement on behalf of his family since they have been very overwhelmed recently.
Suppa said he has known Letuli for a decade and considers him a friend. He described him as a tough but peaceful man who left his native American Samoa as a child and settled in the San Diego area, where he lives with his wife and three children.
“After things settle down, Letuli will be in better shape to share his experience with others,” Suppa added.
