Woman saves life of teen shot at Bonita Springs park

A teen who was shot in Bonita Springs on Wednesday was saved by a woman who swung into action.

The shooting happened at Leitner Park. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating and has not identified who was shot. They did say he will likely survive.

Deputies have also not said if they have made an arrest in the case.

Erika, the woman who helped save his life, said the teen kept going in and out of consciousness. She said he told her he went to the park to fight.

“I kept asking him what were you guys doing over here and he kept telling me “pleitos, pleitos” which means fighting. They went over there to meet for a fight,” Erika said.

Erika said she got home early from her shift as a caregiver when she heard a gunshot.

Her neighbor knocked on the door. She grabbed a towel and ran to the park and the teen down with a gunshot wound in the chest.

“I get over there and put pressure on the wound. He kept coming in and out of consciousness so I kept talking to him. How old are you, what are you doing, where do you live, where’s your mom,” Erika said. “He kept calling me mom, mom don’t let me die.”

Erika said she kept him counting in order to try to keep him conscious. She put pressure on the wound until an ambulance arrived and airlifted the victim to the hospital.

“Just the mother instinct kicked in and I did the best that I could,” she said. “You could see the hole in his abdominal like right underneath his ribcage.”

It’s unknown who pulled the trigger but investigators were seen speaking with three teens and detectives later loaded their bikes one by one, taken away as evidence in the crime.

“That’s where my neighbor said yeah we seen them running and they stole the kid’s bike,” Erika said.