KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A survivor of a shooting earlier this year in Kansas City, Mo., is recalling the night he almost died.
“One thing I learned from my parents that is humanity, that you help others,” Haroon Yousaf said.
One month ago, the 34-year-old was dubbed a “Good Samaritan” after trying to help a woman get her purse back — putting him head-to-head with a gun-firing purse snatcher.
“I almost remember every point when he shot me on the ground. I was watching my blood. That time was very critical,” he said.
On April 9, Yousaf was at work at a Kansas City gas station and convenience store when a frantic woman stormed inside the business near East Gregory and Cleveland and screamed a man stole her purse.
“And I just come out and all that happened. So fast.”
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Yousaf didn’t hesitate to step in. But when he tried to get the purse back, he says the suspect, Murad Jones, shot him six times.
“The first bullet hit me on my rib and broke my three ribs,” he said. “One crossed my chest, a second one crossed my heart and a fourth in my abdomen. Another bullet hit my leg.”
“The sixth one come into my belt.”
I thought I was going to die, Yousaf told FOX 4.
Yousaf’s wife, who was nine months pregnant at the time with the couple’s second child, said she was scared.
“It wasn’t easy for me,” Houdoumati Aoussidine said. “I cry a lot. I pray a lot.”
Five weeks later, the man friend’s call a “humble hero” and proud father is celebrating his incredible recovery and his new baby boy, Azan.
“I’m thankful for my baby first of all and thankful to God for giving me second life — so that gives me more courage to help people.”
Yousaf also told FOX 4 the woman whose purse he helped get back is actually a nurse. He said after he was shot, the woman grabbed a cloth and held it on his wounds until paramedics arrived.
