Manuel Milanés, an activist against communism in Cuba, is telling his story for the first time after being shot in the chest while trying to save a mother and four children.
On Aug. 22, Milanés heard a collision outside his house on Iron Horse Way in Ave Maria. Milanés ran outside and saw a man had purposely crashed into a woman’s car.
He said a stranger, who deputies later identified as Hilberto Callejas, was pointing a gun at his girlfriend's four children in the backseat.
Milanés said he ran inside his home and grabbed his gun.
"I put my gun in him into his into his head. And I told him, 'Give me your gun. I don't want it to kill you, but give me your gun,'" Milanés said.
Moments later, Milanés was shot in the chest.
Milanés wife, Kenia Milanés, said, "He said to me, Kenia, I'm sorry that I had to do it, but I saw in his eyes the evilness I saw in his eyes that he was going to kill them. I couldn't let it happen. I had to protect them. I thought they were my family. I just thought if my family were in that spot, I'd hope someone would do the same thing."
First responders rushed Milanés to the hospital, and he went through surgery.
Milanés said his heart stopped beating three times while surgeons were trying to remove the bullet.
Collier County deputies chased his accused attacker, Calleja, to Golden Gate, where he crashed on Everglades Boulevard N.
Deputies found Callejas hiding in the wetlands and arrested him.
Milanés said he almost lost his life that day and has a long road to recovery and more surgeries ahead, but he said he would do it all over again to save that mother and her children.
"I saved them, and God saved me," Moralés said.
Kenia said surgeons told her her husband lost so much blood they lost count after 30 liters of transfusions.
Kenia said, "A doctor can confirm that it was a miracle. He said with his own words before, this is a miracle — 90% of my patients through this kind of surgery died."
Milanés wants to thank first responders, doctors, and the entire community for supporting him. He not only received support from the community but also from Congressman Mario Diaz-Ballart. He also received a letter signed by former President Trump.