“Inches from death”: Family’s SUV hit by bullet returning to Colorado Springs

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(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A family from Colorado Springs said they are thankful to be alive after a bullet hit their SUV, shattering the driver’s side window, while they were driving home from a spring break trip to Texas.

Joseph Cantu spoke to FOX21 News and recounted the frightening moments on Saturday afternoon, March 30, as the family of seven passed through Leon County, Texas on Interstate 45, north of Houston.

“As we were going under an overpass… I heard just this really loud boom in the side of my ear,” said Cantu, who remembered thinking that, at first, it was the bags on top of the car that had fallen off the roof and hit the windshield.

Just seconds later, he would find out, it was much, much worse.

“My wife starts screaming, and my daughter-in-law who [was sitting] just behind me said, ‘Oh my gosh, there is a bullet hole in the window,'” Cantu recalled as he pulled over and tried to remain calm. “As soon as they said that, I thought to myself, it’s inside my ear or my body.”

Immediately after pulling over, Cantu’s wife Stephanie could be heard in a cell phone video she captured breathing shakily, as the family remained in disbelief.

“I did hand my phone immediately to my wife after we had pulled over; I said ‘film, film right now, start filming, we need to document anything that is going on,'” Cantu said as the family began to realize the extent of what happened.

Cantu said it was especially disturbing that his family was in the car during the incident, and that they had witnessed what happened. “My daughter fainted in the car, she was screaming, crying, and she saw this blood all over my wife and me and thought that we had been shot.”

“There was glass in my face and in my wife’s arm, and of course, the whole windshield was just shattered in,” Cantu continued.

The family immediately called 911 and drove off the interstate to the nearest gas station for help. “Just in case, you know, someone was trying to kill us,” Cantu said.

Soon, law enforcement with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office would arrive and begin the investigation. “They are all very shocked that we are still alive,” said Cantu.

Paramedics also responded to care for Cantu and his wife, who were covered in shards of glass. “And the paramedic says, ‘Well let’s shake your hair,’ to my wife ‘to make sure that you get all the glass out,’ and that is when it really hit us—a bullet fell out of her hair.”

“The policeman just picked it up and his eyes were as big as can be,” Cantu said. “He just stood there stunned looking at us and said, ‘Oh my gosh, you guys are a standing miracle, somebody tried to kill y’all.'”

Inside the family’s SUV, law enforcement would find the bullet’s path.

“The very inside roof, just above my head, there is a hole in the top there and the metal is bent, and so we knew the bullet definitely entered near my head and ricocheted upward,” Cantu explained. “By the grace of God, it didn’t have enough force to go into my wife’s head and just landed in her hair.”

Looking back now, Cantu said while it feels surreal, he’s just happy his family is okay.

Cantu shared his family’s story on Facebook, writing in part; “We were literally inches from death today! We should not be here still, but God had other plans ultimately.”

Cantu told FOX21 he was shocked by the response and kindness of others. “Seeing that is what I would love to continue to see—a tragedy that can turn into hope for others,” he said. “I definitely thank everyone for their prayers… and just thank God that we are alive.”

Cantu said he and his family are grateful to be home. He and his wife own J & J Hip Hop Dance & Performing Arts Company in the Springs and are grateful to return to doing the things they love and hope others just remember to do this: “Continue to have hope, believe in miracles, and live today as if it were your last with no regrets.”

FOX21 reached out to the Leon County Sheriff’s Office which could not comment on the investigation as it is an open and active case that is being investigated as “deadly conduct with a firearm.” The Sheriff’s Office asks that if you have any information helpful to the investigation, to give them a call at (903) 536-2749.

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