Steve Leske was enjoying a quiet afternoon on his couch with his two children watching cartoons when he heard someone trying to kick down his front door.
“I heard a loud banging at the door and saw the cop pull into my yard,” Leske said. “He went right to the cop car, the cop was trying to get out, he barely had the door open. That's when he threw the brick and made a hole right where the cop would be behind his window.”
Leske said the brick narrowly missed hitting the deputy in the head.
“At this point the officer already pulled his gun when he got out he started charging him and the officer shot him,” Leske said.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s investigators said shooting all stemmed from a three car accident on Gibsonton and Branwood Drive. Around 3 this afternoon witnesses said the suspect, identified as Isaias Salgado, 31, from Winter Haven, was driving recklessly. He clipped two cars then rolled his truck on the shoulder.
After the crash, investigators said Salgado ran down the street to the Lowe’s on Gibsonton Drive and tried to carjack two people in the parking lot. Unsuccessful, deputies said he then tried to carjack a third person in the parking lot of Ruby Tuesday. After he couldn’t get a car he ran into a nearby neighborhood and tried to break into homes.
“He was in the process of trying to enter an occupied residence when our deputy arrived on the scene,” Col. Donna Lusczynski said. “The defendant then armed himself with a brick and attacked our deputy who in fear for his life fired his weapon striking our subject.”
Leske said he has home surveillance and said some of the attack was captured on his system.
Leske said the deputy had no other option to defend himself.
“He wasn’t stopping,” Leske said. He’s grateful the deputy arrived when he did to protect his children.
“Luckily, I got them to the back of the house and they didn’t see anything. But, looking back now, if he would have gotten in, it would’ve been bad. He didn't care what he was doing, obviously.”
Deputy Stuart Gray, 48, is a 24-year-veteran of the department and has been placed on standard administrative leave pending the outcome of their investigation.
