NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A teen who was hospitalized after he was shot during a carjacking is speaking out.
Nineteen-year-old Adonis Mendoza sustained two cracked ribs, a bruised lung and a gunshot wound to his shoulder after he and a friend were carjacked, Friday morning, in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Despite his injuries, Mendoza said the outcome could have been much worse.
“Everybody saw me the next morning, and they were like, ‘Why are you happy? Why are you smiling?’ Cause I’m alive,” he said.
Mendoza and his friend, 19-year-old Daniella Martinez, were in the backseat of a 2016 Volkswagen Jetta outside of his home along Northwest 109th Street and Ninth Avenue.
“All of a sudden, I hear my door open and the lights turn on, and this guy just gets in the car. He just starts driving, and we’re like, ‘What’s going on?'” said Martinez.
That’s when, Mendoza said, his instinct kicked in, and he grabbed the thief by the neck as the car began to drive off.
“First thing, I just hit him, and then right then and there I grabbed him like this,” he said, making a hook with his arm.
Mendoza was shot during the scuffle.
“He lifts up his shirt, and he just grabs something — I didn’t notice — and as I’m wrapping around with my left hand to finish it off, he just goes ‘boom,'” said Mendoza. “He just didn’t look at me.”
Despite being shot, Mendoza turned his attention to Martinez.
“I said, ‘Are you OK? Get out the car,’ that’s the very first thing I said. ‘Are you OK? Get out the car.’ Because I hear ringing, and I can’t really hear myself speak,” he said. “And I just see smoke everywhere. I was like, ‘He had a gun on him.'”
Mendoza said he didn’t notice his injury right away.
“As I’m reaching with my left hand, I just don’t feel it,” he said. “I had to do what I had to do. I felt like that was the right thing to do at the moment.”
Martinez and Mendoza jumped out of the car and the carjacker sped off with the vehicle.
“It wasn’t my time to go, and I’m just very thankful,” he said.
Mendoza was released from Jackson Memorial Hospital Monday afternoon.
If you have any information on this carjacking, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
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