MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Police are investigating after a man was shot by a thief who stole his car overnight in northwest Miami-Dade County.
The shooting was reported just before midnight at a Shell gas station at North Miami Avenue and Northwest 82nd Street.
Miami-Dade police said the victim, identified as Lazaro Manuel Arencibia, 26, and his family members discovered that their gray 2009 Ford Fusion had been stolen from their home so they went out looking for it.
Police said they went to pump gas in their other car when they saw three men putting gas into their stolen Fusion.
Police said Arencibia approached the backseat of a Hyundai that one of the thieves was sitting in and punched him. Police said that man then pulled out a gun and shot the victim in the stomach.
"I feel really bad for the guy," Meharab Hossain, who was working inside the gas station, said.
Hossain called 911 as the victim's brothers attempted to stop the bleeding until paramedics arrived.
Arencibia was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, but his injuries were not life-threatening.
Police are now searching for the three men who fled the scene in a blue Hyundai Sonata.
Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.