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Fire & shootings: Wounded neighbor describes escape

“He was stalking me. I felt that I was next.”
Posted at 7:02 PM, Jul 20, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-20 22:02:10-04

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The fire and attacks in Tucson Sunday led to death, close calls and heroism. KGUN9 talked with a man shot and wounded as he tried to make sure no one was in the burning house.

People in the neighborhood around Irene Vista say they try to pull together and look out for each other. So when they saw a house on fire it was natural for them to try to help. That’s when they ran into a man with a gun.

“He was stalking me, I felt that I was next.”

The bandage on Luis Bravo’s head covers the grazing bullet wound that shows how close he came to death Sunday afternoon.

He says when he saw a neighbor’s house was on fire, he rushed to make sure no one was still inside.

“Me and the neighbor banging on the windows, hoping to see if there's somebody in there, get anybody out. When I see the firemen already heading in I said to the guy, ‘Lets go. Because they're going to go in. Let them do their job.’”

He says the man with the gun appeared out of nowhere, firing at anyone trying to help clear the house. Tucson Police have identified the man as 35-year-old Leslie Scarlett. A TPD officer shot and wounded him.

Bravo saw the man with him get shot---and he knew he was next. He took cover behind a car but the gunman was an arm’s length away, reloading to shoot some more.

“I tried to swipe the gun away from him. But he managed to move away from what I was swiping and at that time he hit me with the, with the gun or at the same time he pulled the trigger on me and it felt like a graze---I felt like I got shot in the head.”

He fell, but was able to get up and run.

Bravo says before he escaped he pleaded with the gunman and made it clear he was only trying to help. He says the gunman said nothing.

Luis Bravo says he did not know the gunman, and never saw a sign of trouble at the house before the fire started and the bullets started to fly.

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