SAN MARCOS, Calif. (KGTV) - For the first time, the survivor of a Nov. 2021 double shooting in San Marcos is sharing his story, nearly two years after he was shot eight times while walking in a neighborhood.
The reminders are all across Eric's body in the form of bullet hole scars.
“Someone was looking out for me. I still can't believe I'm alive,” said Eric, 28.
That November night, just past 7 p.m., Eric, who asked us not to use his real name, had left a market with meat and tortillas, set to meet up with his cousin along La Rosa Drive.
“He was suppose to pick me up, and we were supposed come to my house for a barbecue,” said Eric.
As Eric approached the end of the cul-de-sac, a person in all black wearing a COVID mask emerged from the bushes.
“He raised his arm, and I heard gunshots, and I felt the gunshots going into my stomach,” said Eric.
Still in shock, Eric said he turned around and ran.
“As I'm running, I heard four more gunshots going off, but also felt them going through my back,” said Eric.
Eric spotted a lifted truck and crawled under.
Eric said he was face-down, playing dead, when he heard footsteps and more shots. That's when he flipped over.
“I thought I was going to die. If I'm going to die, I’m going to make sure this coward looks at me, at my face,” said Eric.
Eric says the shooter fired more shots, before running out of bullets and taking off.
“I put up my arm to protect my face and it went through my arm,” said Eric.
Good Samaritans helped Eric, but in the emergency room, doctors told family he had hours to live. He would beat the odds.
“To come back, It’s a miracle. I can’t call it anything else," said Eric.
Remarkably, the seven bullets that had gone through his stomach and back, hit no major organs.
In the hospital, Eric learned his cousin, 40-year-old Ivan Rivera, had been shot and killed in the area, before he'd been shot.
The motive remains a mystery.
Eric says neither he nor his cousin, both in construction, had no enemies. Eric hopes sharing his story will lead to an arrest.
"My fear is he'll hurt someone else,” said Eric. “My cousin deserves justice, 100%.”
Eric's road to recovery has been a long one. In the next few months, he'll undergo his 12th surgery. This one will repair his abdominal wall.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Sheriff's Homicide Unit at 858-285-6330 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
