Detective Shot Multiple Times by a Criminal: Amazing Story

Summary

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Law Enforcement Talk: True Crime and Trauma Stories

Episode: Detective Shot Multiple Times by a Criminal: Amazing Story
Host: John "Jay" Wiley
Guest: Ali Perez, Retired San Diego County Sheriff's Deputy
Date: November 2, 2025

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Overview

This gripping episode centers on retired Sheriff's Deputy Ali Perez, who survived being shot multiple times with a .308 rifle during what is described as the longest gunfight in San Diego County history. The shooter was a pedophile suspected of horrifying crimes. Perez discusses the moments leading up to the shooting, the harrowing ordeal itself, its traumatic aftermath, the profound spiritual experience he had during the gunfight, and how he’s tried to make sense of his survival and recovery. The episode also touches on misconceptions about pedophiles as criminals and the unpredictable nature of law enforcement threats.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Background: Law Enforcement, the Case, and the Suspect

[03:15 – 08:51]

• Ali Perez’s Service:
  • Over 18 years in law enforcement before the incident.
  • Assigned to child abuse investigations for two years prior to the shooting.
• The Suspect and Casework:
  • The suspect was a pedophile but did not fit the traditional profile of a violent offender—minimal criminal history and low threat assessment.
  • Surprise at the level of violence encountered: pedophiles usually "fly under the radar" and avoid aggressive confrontation with police.

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2. The Day of the Incident

[16:17 – 19:56]

• Planning the Arrest:
  • A methodical workup and low threat assessment led Perez to be confident about the operation.
  • An unusual number of available team members joined Perez for the attempted arrest—a rare occurrence.
• At the Apartment:
  • Perez had consent and keys, initially trying to enter peacefully.
  • Upon forced entry, he walked into a pitch-black apartment, only to be ambushed.

“I had zero worries. I was very confident. I'm like, I do this all day… I'm going to go over there, I'm going to knock on the door, use my award-winning personality, get him outside, throw the cuffs on him, get him back to the station…”
— Ali Perez [16:17]

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3. The Gunfight: Violence Unleashed

[24:20 – 32:05]

• Immediate Chaos:
  • On entry, Perez was shot almost immediately, nearly losing his left arm.
  • Suffering massive trauma, he experienced time dilation, tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, and overwhelming pain.
  • His partners returned fire as Perez lay immobilized.

"He opens fire. The first round hits me in the left arm and almost severs it completely… My body locked up… when the static went away, I had spun 90 degrees. I'm the only one inside the apartment."
— Ali Perez [24:20]

• Survival Instinct:

  • Despite extreme injuries, Perez's determination to fight and survive surged:

    "I'm not dying in this nasty child molester's apartment today. Kill this man. Stop playing. See bad guy shoot bad guy, right?"
    — Ali Perez [26:26]

• Notable Experience:

  • Auditory exclusion (sounds muted), time seemed to slow, and Perez methodically attempted to reload and defend himself despite being gravely wounded.

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4. Critical Moments & Spiritual Encounter

[35:41 – 41:53]

• The Life-and-Death Struggle:
  • After a vicious exchange, Perez runs out of ammunition, as does the shooter. The suspect stands over him and, for a split second, appears poised to execute him.
  • Overwhelmed by guilt (not coming home to his family), shame, anger, and a rush of emotion, Perez prepares to accept death.
• Near-Death & Divine Encounter:
  • Instead of being shot, Perez describes an overwhelming sense of peace and a vivid spiritual encounter with Jesus Christ, who instructs him to "bless" his attacker, radically softening Perez's heart towards the man attempting to kill him.

"I got the courage to speak. And I said, ‘Lord, I trust you completely. What do you want me to do with this guy?’... In beautiful calligraphy [the note] said, 'I want you to bless him.'"
— Ali Perez [39:40]

• Transformation in Action:
  • Obeying the vision, Perez tells the suspect, "God bless you, brother. I’m going to pray for you." The suspect then sets down his rifle.
  • Perez describes three minutes spent with Christ, experiencing specific instructions, and a glimpse of hell that changed his heart towards true forgiveness.

"He told me to bless the man I was trying to kill and the man who was trying to kill me."
— Ali Perez [39:50]

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5. Aftermath: Survival, Surrender, and Reflection

[42:08 – 43:12]

• Gunfight Ends:
  • The suspect was mortally wounded, began to surrender, but then shot at police again before finally surrendering to authorities.
• Lifelong Impact:
  • Perez suffers permanent injuries (loss of use of his left arm), PTSD, and describes the burden and complexity of surviving such violence.
  • Perspective on Violence: Both host and guest discuss the dual natures within law enforcement professionals—the desire for peace and the ability to be extremely violent when facing mortal threats.

"I'm not violent by nature, but if you switch, if there's a switch in me… then you've got to be prepared to deal with what comes behind it."
— Ali Perez [30:54]

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6. The Book "Bless Him" and Moving Forward

[43:12 – 44:08]

• Book Origin:
  • The memoir "Bless Him" was initiated and written by Perez's daughter, Raelynn Perez, offering a 360-degree view of the incident from multiple perspectives, including police partners and hospital staff.
  • The book chronicles the cascade of "miracles" surrounding Perez’s survival and recovery.
• Forgiveness and Recovery:
  • Perez discusses the ongoing challenge of making peace with the trauma, adapting to disability, and living post-career.
  • The host emphasizes the media’s failure to cover the aftermath and recovery journey for wounded officers.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Violence and Survival:

  "You would think being shot multiple times, a .308 rifle, you’re done for… I'm only alive by the grace of God. Period."
  — Ali Perez [03:38]

• On Law Enforcement Preparedness:

  “Statistically, they're three to five seconds long… I never once thought I would be in this almost 15-minute ordeal.”
  — Ali Perez [05:20]

• On the Spiritual Experience:

  "He told me to bless the man I was trying to kill… The only thought that went through my head was, 'yes, sir.' I said, 'God bless you, brother. I'm going to pray for you.' And he set his fully loaded M1 Garand on the ground."
  — Ali Perez [39:40]

• On Post-Trauma Reflection:

  “I was out. I was ashamed and embarrassed. The weight of failure almost killed me right there. Never mind the gunshot wound."
  — Ali Perez [35:41]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Introduction to Ali Perez and the case: [02:55 – 03:15]
• Profile of pedophiles as offenders: [07:51 – 08:51]
• Building the case and approaching the apartment: [16:17 – 19:56]
• The gunfight begins—Perez is shot: [24:20 – 26:55]
• Describing the after-effects: tunnel vision, pain, survival mindset: [26:55 – 30:09]
• Discussion on violence as a duality in officers: [30:34 – 32:04]
• Deep dive into the gunfight’s climax, tactical and emotional challenges: [35:41 – 39:40]
• The spiritual encounter and turning point: [39:40 – 41:53]
• Suspect’s fate and end of gunfight: [42:08 – 42:46]
• Book and aftermath: [43:12 – 44:08]

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Episode Tone and Takeaways

• Candid, unfiltered, and intensely personal: The episode maintains a deeply honest tone, with Perez and Wiley reflecting (sometimes emotionally) on trauma, violence, faith, and the lasting impacts of their work and suffering.
• Law enforcement as human: Both men underscore the unpredictability of police work, misconceptions about criminal violence, and how even minor-seeming situations can turn suddenly deadly.
• Hope and forgiveness emerge: Despite the horror, Perez emphasizes faith, forgiveness, and the search for meaning.
• Resource: For more on Ali’s story and book: raelynperez.com

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For Listeners

This episode offers a rare look inside the mind and heart of a law enforcement officer who survived a true nightmare—both the brutal violence and the soul-searching aftermath. It’s a story about trauma, resilience, the unpredictable nature of evil, and ultimately the healing power of faith and forgiveness.

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End of summary.

Transcript

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[John J. Wiley]

Tap [e-mail] and see for yourself. He's a retired sheriff's deputy from California. He survived being shot multiple times with a.308 rifle in a prolonged gunfight. The suspect? A pedophile. He's here to talk about the gunfight, the injuries afterwards, his recovery, the trauma and his life today. Welcome to the Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show. In the Law Enforcement Talk Radio show, we are joined by special guests talking about their experiences, their realities, investigating crimes, plus those who have experienced horrendous trauma. Police, first responders, military and victims of crime share their stories. Hi, I'm John J. Wiley. In addition to being a broadcaster, I'm also a retired police sergeant. Be sure to check out our website letradio.com and also like us on Facebook. Search for the Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show. There's a couple ways you can stay in touch and keep informed of what's going on with the Law Enforcement Talk radio show. Number one, go to our website letradio.com, sign up for our email newsletter. It's real easy to find. I promise we don't spam you. I send out about one email every two weeks or so and there's also a feature called Broadcast Channels on our Facebook page where we send messages directly to your inbox, directly to your messenger. Real easy to sign up for. Make sure you like or follow the Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show Facebook page. And up top you'll see broadcast channels one for free podcast versions of the radio show, another one top post of the day so YouTube can stay informed quickly, easily and best of all, like always. Free content is from Georgia. We have Ali Perez on Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show. Ali is a retired San Diego County Sheriff's deputy. And he was shot multiple times in a prolonged gunfight. I hear it's the longest gunfight in San Diego county history with a.308 rifle which I can't even begin to imagine fired by a pedophile. A book was written about this gunfight, his story and through by his daughter called Bless Him. And the website is Raylan Perez.com Ali thanks for your service. Amb. Thanks for being guest on law enforcement talk radio show talking about it. Very much appreciate it, man.

[Ali Perez]

It's an honor to be here. Thank you for having me.

[John J. Wiley]

Jay first of all, I feel like it's I'm the one that's honored because quite often, and I'm retired Baltimore police, but quite often guys didn't make it. I don't to this day know why. Some do and some don't. But you would think being shot multiple times, a.308 rifle, you're done for.

[Ali Perez]

It was, it was absolutely insane. And I'll tell you this. And everybody hears sound of my voice. I'm only alive by the grace of God. Yeah, Period.

[John J. Wiley]

Well, that only makes sense otherwise. And here's the thing. Ali and I used to say this. Nothing bad is going to happen. Because if I did, if I really believe something, I'd never leave the station. I never got the car. Nothing bad is going to happen to me as in four shootings in 11 years. And none of them were like what the media portrays, none of them. But there were guys and I would say by God's grace, I'm alive. Other people, they had as much faith as I did, if not stronger. And they didn't make it. And I don't know why.

[Ali Perez]

You know, I'm not sure either God had a plan for me. I was about to be executed and the good Lord intervened. I spent three minutes with Jesus during this crazy in the middle of a firefighter. It was the most amazing, incredible and insane thing that's ever happened to me. Changed the trajectory of my life.

[John J. Wiley]

How long were you in law enforcement for this happened?

[Ali Perez]

I was in law enforcement 18 plus years when the shooting happened. I spent two years in recovery and lost the use of my left arm. So I had to retire.

[John J. Wiley]

And by the way, I was never shot, thank God. But I had multiple surgeries. I was retired on disability with a little more than 11 years on the job. But the question to you, Ali, is you go through an entire career and yet lots of bad things happen, lots of close calls. There are other gunfights, but most of them I Shrug them off and think that's, that's just comes with territory and I'll be fine. Did you ever think you would be involved in such a prolonged shootout in your law enforcement career?

[Ali Perez]

No, I didn't. Statistically, they're three to five seconds long. It's, it's, you know, it's minutes, not, I mean seconds, not minutes. I never once thought I would be in this almost 15 minute ordeal. I was locked inside the apartment for 11 and a half minutes before I made it out to safety. Free bleeding, body shot up. And it was just, again, it was insane. And I never thought this was going to happen at this level. And I look back on it often, if not every day, every couple of days, and I just think, what a miracle that I'm still standing and breathing.

[John J. Wiley]

Yeah, you are walking, talking miracle for sure. I've had one of the guests on the show and he was a retired, now retired sergeant from Oklahoma and he was shot on a raid. He's a SWAT call out. He's a SWAT sergeant and he was shot by.308 rifle from an AR10 platform. And it devastated him. I mean, he lost the use of an arm. Just like you.

[Ali Perez]

Man, it is. First round almost took my arm, my left arm clean off. Second round punched a hole through my chest the size of a grapefruit. It went through and through. I was wearing a tack vest, but it was level three, so it might as well been wearing a piece of paper or a T shirt because it punched, it punched straight through me. By the, by the grace of God, it missed my heart and my liver, got everything else. The bullet fragments went everywhere, jacked up my lungs, my, my diaphragm, my intestines, and just, it was just. I was a hot mess when I was in the hospital.

[John J. Wiley]

And how old of a guy were you when this occurred?

[Ali Perez]

So I got shot September 25, 2012. I was just about to turn 42. I was 41 that following December. I turned 42 in the hospital.

[John J. Wiley]

And how old are you now?

[Ali Perez]

I'm 54.

[John J. Wiley]

You're still a young pup, man. 54. I can barely remember being 54. It was so long ago. But before we get into the question, I want you to hold this in your mind because sometimes for me it seems like police work was a different person, and other times it seems like it was yesterday. And usually that yesterday is when I don't want it to be. So I want you to consider that. The second thing is I had a guest on a show. She's a Royal Canadian Mounted police. She was shot through a door by a pedophile. And we don't normally think of them as violent criminals. Did you go in that mindset thinking this guy's dangerous?

[Ali Perez]

No. Thank you, miss. Thank you so much for asking. I work gangsters, I work bikers, I work parolees, parolees at large. And every time you work something like that, it's a different skill set. And now with these pedophiles, I was only there two years, so I don't call myself a subject matter expert. I like to consider myself a journeyman. So I got there. In the two years I was there, our team, we were pulling these guys off the street several times a week. And often, many times. They had plenty of guns and weaponry in the closet. But what we've learned, when you do a background check on these guys, it's minimal to zero law enforcement contact, red light violation, an accident, parking ticket. They fly low and under the radar. They're not type A aggressive go getters. They interact socially, awkward with adults. They fantasize about having real relationships with these small children to justify the deviancy that they commit upon them. And they lie to themselves and say, well, I loved her and she loved me. Our relationship was real. They do to justify their deviancy.

[John J. Wiley]

But the thing is, I never think of them as being ultra violent criminals. And I guess in a way it makes sense. It's like serial killers and serial rapists that they do their best to blend in with society. They don't want to stand out, they don't want to draw any attention themselves.

[Ali Perez]

I had, I had the lady, I had the mom that had the victim's mother come on the news and jump up and down, yelling and screaming, saying, she warned us that he was violent and going to shoot it out. No, that's not true. Everybody has the capability to do violence. She neglected to tell me that. One, he hated the government, especially law enforcement, and two, he would rather shoot it out at the drop of a dime than be taken into custody. Three, that he was an avid outdoorsman and a hunter and trained with weaponry. Awesome. He was often, he was familiar with, with his platform. And so she left all that out. Her response to me with, he's got some guns, I don't know what kind they are. And we did a full background check. We did a workout. We didn't come up with anything registered. I wasn't too worried about it. I wasn't kicking doors. Those clubhouse, third striker going back to the pen for the rest of his life. This was a pedophile and this is what we do. And, and I won't, I won't say I was overconfident. I was just, you know, because, you know, firsthand experience, the spidey senses that you never ignore that the, the hairs on the back of your neck has saved me 100 out of 100 times because you're here. I always, I always listen to it. I never had it, not once in my mind. I put the pieces in place to be successful.

[John J. Wiley]

We're going to take a short break. On that note. We're talking with Ali Perez, retired San Diego county sheriff's deputy. Shot multiple times with a.308 rifle. The longest gunfight, long gunfight in San Diego history. And the book was written about the incident called Bless him by his daughter Raelynn Perez. And their website is raelynperez.com this is the law enforcement talk radio show. We have so much more to talk about. Don't go anywhere. We will be right back. Of all the radio stations in the United States, there are no other shows like the law enforcement talk radio show. And on Facebook, there's only one official page. Do a search on Facebook for the law enforcement talk radio show and be sure to like the law enforcement talk radio show Facebook page.

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[John J. Wiley]

Return conversation with Ali Perez. Ali is retired San Diego San Diego County, California Sheriff's Deputy. He was shot multiple times with a.308 rifle. You can tell I'm not a ballistics expert and that's a heavy Duty hunting rifle in a prolonged gunfight. From what I'm saying, this is the longest GU in San Diego county history. And he was shot by a pedophile. And of course, we're going to talk about the incident, his injuries, some PTSD issues, and what he's doing about today. The book that was written about this incident is called Bless him and is written by his daughter, Raelynn Perez. And her website is raelynperez.com that's spelled R A E L I N perez.com P E R E Z.com I want people to get this understanding that there's a certain hierarchy of criminals. And the vast majority of people that we encountered on a daily basis in a Baltimore police department we didn't arrest. And the ones we did, very few of them, I'd say less than 1%, were violent criminals. However, that 1% could wreck your day. They could ruin your weekend, they could ruin your life, they could take your life. And same in prison. But a lot of those people were not violent. And certain categories of criminals tend to be more violent than others. Pedophiles do not enter that realm.

[Ali Perez]

Yeah, I agree. I worked gangsters, breakers, parolees. I had a taste, you know, I worked the streets. I had a taste of violent, you know, repeat offenders. But my time in child abuse with these pedophiles, it was very different. They were not. They did not display violent tendencies. Minimal to no law enforcement contact. If you'd run one of their backgrounds, you might get a red light violation, you might a traffic accident, something very minimal to zero law enforcement contact. And it is, they, they don't, you know, they don't stand out. As far as multiple contacts with law enforcement, at least in my two years experience that I was there working San Diego County.

[John J. Wiley]

The other thing I noticed is that when people would say to me, I'm going to shoot it out, I'm going down a hill, they were usually just talk. It was a quiet guys you didn't worry about. Was there anything in this guy's history that made you think, I got to be careful with this one?

[Ali Perez]

Nope. We did a full workup on him, and we have this whole checklist that goes on. And if he meets, if he meets, you know, X amount of checks on the box, we send it over to our tactical unit. His threat assessment was so low, we didn't even send it to the tactical unit because we send it to them, they review it, and they say, no, you guys are good, you guys go handle it, or no, we'll take it. He didn't even rate high enough on our threat assessment to make it over to the tactical unit in the first place.

[John J. Wiley]

Right. And the reason I'm bringing that up is because so many people love to blame the police and well, you know, you should have known ahead. Well, hindsight's 20 20. It's a perfect vision. But foresight is something that most people don't have. But you guys did all the homework, you the best you could, and I'll.

[Ali Perez]

Even go one step above that. Typically when I work a case like this, it's me and one other partner. Unless I'm doing a search warrant, then my all the rest of the team will join me on the search warrant because we had 10 detectives in our unit and they're all slammed with cases because we cover the whole county of San Diego and everybody's working cases just like I am. And so most of the time you get one person to go with you and you handle it unless it's a warrant. And in this case, I thought initially after I got, after I got the case, handled it, put it together, I was just going to go do a pickup with one other guy from a unit I used to work in, the community policing street team unit, used to be the gang suppression team. Well, I walked in there and they were all my old partners and former trainees and they had, they had a down training day. So the supervisor offered the entire team. I never, I never got that much help before or since.

[John J. Wiley]

So you didn't go by yourself?

[Ali Perez]

Bodies to put surveillance out on the place to pin him down to a location? I had six extra bodies, plus a supervisor and two trainees. I thought I had put the chess pieces in place to be successful. I had zero worries. I was very confident. I'm like, I do this all day, this is what I do. I'm going to go over there, I'm going to knock on the door, use my award winning personality, get him outside, throw the cuffs on him, get him back to the station, interview him, and then spend the next six weeks after I drop him off at county jail working up for the preliminary. And you know, my man, I said I had plenty of help. I had a partner coming down from about 50 miles away. He was going to help me with the evidence collection. So I was good and I wasn't worried about it. You know, we did the work up on him. It was nothing. He had a misdemeanor vandalism out of the state of Wisconsin, but it was not, you know, it wasn't anything that even raised the Hairs on the back of your neck for anything.

[John J. Wiley]

And the next question is when we're doing the. People love to use the word raid. So I was usually the guy with the mall or sledgehammer, what do you want to call it? And some wouldn't take the first hit on the door. You kind of get a feel for how it's going to go. Did you said you knocked on the door and when did you realize this is not, this is not what I intended.

[Ali Perez]

So we had prior, prior to me showing up, I had keys, apartment keys and written consent to go in and take whatever I needed that was, would help the case investigation. I had three recorded phone calls from the suspect. The last 10 minutes of the last call. He didn't give a confession, but he gave an admission and guilt. And that was all I need. I had still photos, I had videos, I mean just to, just to work up the case how I got it. She thought he was cheating on her. She woke up early, went through his cell phone, found seven videos and 18 pictures of him horribly abusing her six and eight year old daughter. I'll spare everybody the details. She brings it over to us, shows me what she has. I go over, put a team together and she gives me the keys to her apartment and written consent to go inside. But you know, experience teaches us you don't walk into somebody's house unannounced. That's a surefire way to have a fight you don't need to have. So I knocked on the door. I was not concerned about destruction of evidence. I had overwhelming and compelling evidence and I'll touch on that in a minute. And so I'm beating on the door, calling him out by first and last name. He doesn't answer. I use the keys to hit the bottom lock. I'm getting ready to do the top lock. One of my partners on the backside of the apartment gets on the radio and goes, hey, I hear a little girl screaming. And I can't tell if it's the apartment you guys are trying to get into or the one next to it. So if you pump the brakes right there, I mean we just checked off exigent circumstances because we've got video and still photo evidence of what he does when he's alone with small little girls. So at that point I'm going regardless. So I go to hit the deadbolt, but it's rigged shut. And that's an old trick we've seen in the jails, you know, a thousand times. He does not want to be held accountable. So we know he's inside. He doesn't want to be held accountable. My only option is to kick the door, which I was fine with. So I put my back to the door and I mule kicked it. And I've kicked plenty of doors in my career. What happened is the bottom half of the door flexed and then snapped back. I never had that happen on a door kick before. And so of course my partner gives me the really haas can't get it open on the first try look. So then, you know, then my manhood gets called into question. So then I reach back and I rear back and I kick the door a second time. It goes flying open. And now it was high noon in Lakeside. It was a bright sunny September date and I stepped into a pitch black apartment. And that's when all that's when the.

[John J. Wiley]

Gun that's a really bad situation. And before we get a break, I want people to realize that it takes a while for your eyes to just to see what's going on inside and nearing what they call the deadly funnel or the funnel fire. When you're in the doorway, it's not a good place to be. This is the Law Enforcement Talk Radio show. We're talking with Ali Perez, retired san Diego County, California Sheriff's Deputy. He was shot multiple times at 308 by a pedophile and he died during the incident and was restored returned to life. His daughter wrote a book about the incident called Bless Him. Raelynn Perez is the author and her website is raelynperez.com this is law Enforcement Talk Radio Show. We'll take a short break. I promise you we'll be right foreign.

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[Ali Perez]

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[John J. Wiley]

Return a conversation with Ali Perez, retired San Diego County Sheriff's deputy shot multiple times with a.308 rifle by a pedophile, which will return that conversation in a moment. And he had survived with lifelong injuries, including some PTSD issues. His daughter wrote a book about it called Bless him by Raylan Perez and her Website is Raylan Perez.com is spelled R A E L I N P r e Raylan Perez.com before we return to your story, I gotta say this again. I realized the magnitude of being able to talk with you when I had a situation the last shooting I was in. And it's weird how your mind works. I don't do a lot of thinking. I can't speak for you, but one of the thoughts that came through my mind was this guy's trying to kill me, and I'm going to die. But it's not going to be tonight, and it won't be because of what he does. I'm going to do whatever it takes to survive. Did that, that line of thinking come into your head at all?

[Ali Perez]

Oh, absolutely. And, and, and there's many things that happened. My mind sped up and everything was, to me, everything, everything slowed down. Right when I kicked open the door, I take one step into a pitch black apartment. He had taken the time to rearrange the furniture, strategically cover the windows, lower the blinds, cover them with blankets and towels. Blacked out the apartment, redid some of the furniture and gave himself some firing positions. So I take one step into a pitch black apartment. My eyes haven't adjusted. He opens fire. The first round hits me and the left arm and almost severs it completely. It took out my humerus and my bicep. The only thing keeping my left arm attached was a piece of tricep meat. Holding it onto my shoulder should have come clean off at that point because it was about 8 to 10ft away. So he was, he was laid pro doubt with a three. He had a M1 grand and it was the sniper variant. So it's chambered in.308. And, and so that almost took my left arm clean. And, and what happened to me when I got hit is like the old TVs used to, have to change the dial and you get that white static. Yeah, that's what I saw. My whole eyes went white static. My body locked up like one of those UFC fighters that gets knocked out hard, huh? And my whole body locked up and seized up and I saw white static. When the static went away, I had spun 90 degrees. I'm the only one inside the apartment. Right inside the door jamb. I'm on my back and the gunfight is on. My partners are on their knees firing into the. Craig and Mike are firing into the apartment right at this point. And I have auditory exclusion and tunnel vision so bad. All I can see is about 6 to 8ft directly ahead of me and the width of about 3ft, 4ft wide, max. Everything else I don't see. I had my ears, the auditory exclusion. He was firing a.308 unsuppressed in an enclosed, tiny apartment. And it sounded like dud firecrackers to me. I could barely hear the gunshots.

[John J. Wiley]

That doesn't surprise me. That doesn't surprise me at all. I hear that from my own situation, but I hear that from other people as well. It's like the way to describe it is one of the last unions I was in. My partner was yelling at me not to get out of the police car. He was yelling. He was like three feet away from me. And we were in the middle of a prolonged gunfight with a murderer. And all I say is like having a TV on another room. You could hear the sound, but I wasn't aware of what he was saying.

[Ali Perez]

Man. It was, yeah, it was very muffled and the pain was overwhelming. And like I can honestly say on a scale of 1 to 10, I know what an 11 feels like, bro. It felt like I got hit by a dump truck, set on fire and then backed over two or three times. It was off the charts. And I learned some interesting things about pain when, when I was going through this ordeal. So he's shooting and he's moving from firing position to firing position. He's shooting at all my partners outside. I gather my wits about him. And the question you asked previously was what was my mindset? It was, I'm not dying in this nasty child molesters apartment today. Kill this man. Stop playing. See bad guy shoot bad guy, right? And, and so when he flashed in front of my vision. Now a couple of things that happened. My whole body, I'm on the floor. If you can imagine me laying down right next to a front door inside an apartment where I could reach with my right hand and touch the door jamb. Now I just lost the use. My left arm has been violently injured. I want to get up and run out of the apartment and go get medical aid, but my body was stuck like a magnet. I was stuck on the floor. I don't understand why. I mean, I think it was God kept me there to experience what I experienced. It wasn't a punishment, it was a lesson. But my legs would not respond to the command to move. My body wouldn't get up. The only thing that moved during this ordeal was my neck and my right arm. And so I had my weapon in my right arm. And when I saw him cross my field of vision, this was our first engagement, I raised my weapon and I started shooting. So about hyped up on adrenaline and so I went, I burned up about eight to 10 rounds in that first engagement. Well, he ran down the hallway, jumped into a back bedroom, started shooting at the perimeter deputies of my partners. Now I've got a few seconds to look around and try to gather my wits about me. And I look over and I see, I see Craig, I see Mike down on one knee. That's my partner, Mike. The supervisor was Craig. He was looking. Mike was asking me where he's at. I'm trying to formulate the words, but I'm in agony and keeping my wits about me, trying to keep control, my breathing, all that was, was very, very challenging. And. And I remember coming out of the static going, okay, what? Truck just hit me. How bad is it? Okay, I hear the gunfire. You've been shot. How bad is it? I started doing a full body assessment from toe. I started at my feet, started looking for holes, and my left arm was felt. My brain was telling me it was crossed right above my chest and stomach where they meet. But I was looking down and my arm wasn't there. But that's where my brain told me it was there. That's where I felt it. But later on I saw that it was over my. My left arm was raised over my head at a 90 degree angle, the way your arm normally bends, except it was going the wrong way. The 90 degree bend was away from me, not towards the top of my head. So I realized at that point, hey, my brachial artery shot. I got about four minutes before I pass out. Four minutes after that, I'm gonna be dead. And it was this. To my last breath, to my last drop of blood, I'm gonna kill this man. And I'm not dying in this nasty child. I understand that was on repeat.

[John J. Wiley]

And here's the thing, and this goes against how I was raised. I tell people this all the time. I'm a perfect gentleman until I get in a life or death situation and then all bets are off. And I've. I've been extremely violent in my past, and I still struggle with that. And so I can. I can understand that. But do you often feel like that's not who you are?

[Ali Perez]

The way I look at it is something very similar. What I look at it is I don't want to hurt a fly. I don't want to bother nobody. I want to spread love. I want to spread positivity and encouragement. I'm not violent by nature, but if you switch, if there's a switch in me.

[John J. Wiley]

Oh, yeah, I got that too.

[Ali Perez]

If you turn that switch on, then you got to be prepared to deal with what comes behind it. And, And I. And I don't like to, you know, to get that very often. I've had to do it, you know, a handful of times. But yes, I can. I can be very, very, very violent. And I don't have a problem with it. I don't want to shoot anybody. I don't want to hurt a fly. But if it puts me in where you're trying to kill me, trying to kill my family, that's it. Then we're gonna see. We're gonna see how bad you, you really want to live because we're gonna find out, right? And we're gonna find out the macho or bravado, I say it as a matter of fact.

[John J. Wiley]

Well, I would say this and my wife will know that it's not. I fear other people. I keep to myself not because I fear other people. I don't like my response. And the only thing I can control is my response. And as being an police, it's not always good. So when I see, for example, something that comes across threatening to me, you may not see it that way or people that outside the profession may not see it that way. And the other thing is, Ali, I don't want to explain. I'm through with answering questions.

[Ali Perez]

I'm with you, boss.

[John J. Wiley]

Yeah, I get. So we're talking with Ali Perez. Ali is a retired San Diego county sheriff's deputy. He was involved and shot multiple times with a 308 rifle by a pedophile in a prolonged gunfight, which I understand is the longest gunfight in the history of San Diego County. His daughter wrote a book about it called Bless him. His daughter's name is Raelyn Perez and her website is raylanperez.com that's R A E L I N P R E P E R E z dot com. Perez is such an easy name and for some reason when I spell it, it jacks me up. This is the law enforcement talk radio show. When we return, going to talk about life afterwards for Ali and what he's doing about it today. Don't go anywhere. So much more. Heading away. We'll be right back. Be sure to check out our website, letradio.com. that's L E T radio dot com. There you'll find episodes of the show available as a podcast after airing on radio. And they're always free. There's 700 plus episodes on there right now. There's blogs. Get information about our sponsors. All that and much [e-mail] Again, the website is letradio.com this is the story of the One.

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[John J. Wiley]

Return conversation with Ali Perez on the law enforcement talk radio. Ali is retired San Diego County, California Sheriff's Deputy. He was shot multiple times with a.308 rifle by a pedophile. They're not normally violent. This guy was. It's a prolonged gunfight. It's in the annals of being the longest gunfight in the history of San Diego or at least modern San Diego. He had multiple lifelong injuries and also some PTSD issues. His daughter wrote a book about it called Bless Him. His daughter's name is Raelynn Perez. That's R A E L I N Perez. Common spelling on our websites. Raelynn Perez.com that's R A E L I N Perez.com I find it fascinating that and this is 2012, I think you said earlier that occurred.

[Ali Perez]

Yes sir.

[John J. Wiley]

People in the 1980s, 90s, even the early 2000s, they didn't survive things like this. We didn't know. We didn't have tourniquets. We didn't have a lot of things we do. At what point before we get into your hospitalization, at what point did you realize this is really, really bad?

[Ali Perez]

So I'm glad you asked. So in the middle of this, middle of this gunfight, there's a lull in the shooting. I don't see, I don't see bad guy. He low crawls, he pulls a piece of the door trim and he locks me shut in the apartment. So I'm locked in the apartment by myself. He gets up and he runs back down to the hallway at intersection where he was hiding and we go into our second engagement. So he peeps around the corner and I start shooting at him. I double tapped him in the, in the stomach and he turned to run and I got him once in the butt. He came back around the corner, he shot me a second time through the chest. And it punched a hole through my chest the size of a grapefruit. It took out my rib and it put bullet fragments in 800 different directions. And I had catastrophic and life threatening injuries. I'm free, bleeding the entire time. My, my reaction times are getting slower and slower because of the blood loss. And he and I get slide lock. I run out of ammo and so I dump my mag and I go to go to my tactical vest to retrieve a spare magazine. When I got shot in the chest, my vest shifted over 45 degrees so my mags weren't where I could normally reach them. So it took every ounce of strength and effort to reach over and extract a magazine. I'll never forget this as long as I live. I have the mag in front of my face. I'm staring at, I'm walking myself through how to reload my weapon. And he walks over to me and he kicks it out of my hand, the magazine out of my hand. He's standing over me with a rifle. I thought it was going to execute me right there. And he looks down and very calmly said, where's your duty weapon at? Well, God's honest truth. And all in all of the excitement I was having, I forgot where I put it. So I just looked up, said I don't know man. And he believed me. And he turned around and he walked away. Well, he had an M1 garant. And I heard the ping and that, that triggered my mind that he was out of ammo. And then I realized, hey, he's out of ammo, I'm out of ammo. It became a frantic reload, race to reload. And all I kept telling myself was get your weapon hot. Get your ammo. Get your weapon hot. Kill this man. Stop playing. You're not dying in this nasty child molesters apartment today. Kill this man right now. Stop playing. And I'm frantically trying to get to my ammo pouch. I get to my ammo pouch. I had four spare mags in my pouch, but they weren't individually secured. It was a big dump pouch. So when I extracted that first mag, the other three fell over and went and laid out horizontal. So it was deeper inside the pouch. And I was struggling to get my hand across my chest to get in that pouch. In the meantime, I hear him sound insert what sounds like a fresh clip. And I started to panic at the worst possible time. This compounded everything it made every of all the times to start panicking. It was right in the middle of the reload race. Well, I hear him cycle his weapon, and that was the moment that I knew I was beaten. There's nothing I could do about it. And I was overwhelmed at the worst. Murphy's Law, the worst possible moment at the worst possible time. I get overwhelmed with this huge wave of emotion. I'm embarrassed that I let a pedophile beat me. I'm a competitive dude. I don't like to lose. I'm angry and frustrated that I'm dying in a child molester's apartment and that I failed my family. And then I felt guilty for leaving my family behind because I promised them. I said, I can get another job. I can have surgery. I can get a cast. I can go to the hospital. I said, I can't get killed. I gave my family my word I'd come home after each and every shift, and I let a pedophile take me out. And I was just, you know, I was ashamed and embarrassed. And the weight of failure almost killed me right there. Never mind the gunshot one. Then this little tiny voice went in the back of my head, Today, you're not dead yet. Get your weapon. Make it hot. Kill this man. So it slapped me out of my pity party, got me back to work, and I started focusing. But the anxiety was building up because I knew I was behind. And it got so bad, it was overwhelming. I couldn't take it anymore. And I was like, you know what? If today's my day to die, so be it. I'm gonna look at this dude. I'm gonna look him square in the eyes. I'm gonna take his best shot. I'm gonna see what he's made up. And I raised my eyes to accept a.308 because I knew I was getting shot in the head this time. And instead of a bullet to the head, what I got which allows me to be living and breathing today, man, it was a miracle upon miracle was my lord and savior, Jesus Christ. He was there. I didn't see him appear. He was there. When I raised my eyes to accept my death, I'd gone as far as I could go as a man, as a human being. And the good Lord stood between me and the bad guy. And it felt like somebody dipped me in a jacuzzi of warm bath Because I was in agony and miserable, and I was at complete and total peace. My body didn't hurt. I was breathing normal. My arm didn't hurt. Nothing hurt. And you could hear a pin drop. And I Got the courage to speak. And I said, lord, I trust you completely. What do you want me to do with this guy? And he sat down on this little desk stool with a desk, and he wrote this note on the desk. And it flew off his. The desk and landed on my chest. It was about the size of. Landed on my tactical vest. And I picked it up as about the size of a 3 by 5 index card or a cell phone. And in beautiful calligraphy said, I want you to bless him. And in the middle of a gunfight with a pedophile, I'm seriously shot with catastrophic and life threatening injuries. The supervisor outside also took ricochets and he was shot in the left arm and chest as well. So he was out. I was out. And in the. In the middle of this gunfight, he didn't tell me to reload and finish the job. He told me to bless the man I was trying to kill and the man who was trying to kill me. And he exhibited this grace and mercy that I don't even comprehend. But the only thought they went through my head was, yes, sir. Now I look at a bad guy and I don't know if he can see Jesus or not, but I look right at him and I said, God bless you, brother. And he freezes. He doesn't say a single word. He's just standing there. He's holding his rifle at the low ready. And I said it one more time. I said, God bless you, brother. I'm gonna pray for you. And he set his fully loaded M1 Garand. He set it on the ground. Because I was obedient to Christ. And I went on to have this amazing encounter with Christ. I spent three minutes with Christ. He gave me notes and instructions for the rest of my life. He showed me the gates of hell. He showed me he was merciful. He covered it with a black cloud. But I heard the torment and that changed my heart to forgive the guy that shot me, because I would have been able to give good lip service and said, no, I forgive the guy. I'm not mad, but we're men. This guy took me out, retired me, nearly killed me. And there would have been a piece of me. And I want to be honest and transparent because I'm a flawed human. I would have wanted payback.

[John J. Wiley]

Oh, yeah.

[Ali Perez]

But I heard. I heard suffering on a level that there's no vocabulary on planet Earth to adequately describe it. And I had a softened heart and actually felt bad for the dude without.

[John J. Wiley]

Mentioning his name, what happened to him.

[Ali Perez]

So he. He was bleeding to Death. So he was surrender. He said he ultimately surrendered. I ultimately, I have an amazing encounter with Christ. He tries to open the door for me. The rescue team now is rallied up. They open fire on the house a bunch of times. He can't get the door open. I can't explain how the apartment door got open, but I call it by the grace of God. I managed to crawl out and get taken out by the rescue team. They dragged me out in the way to safety. He has a change of heart, picks up his rifle, start shooting at all my partners again. So the gunfight starts, and then about three or four minutes later, he realizes he's going to bleed to death. So he surrendered and was taken into custody.

[John J. Wiley]

Well, here's the thing, Ali. This whole scenario is unbelievable. I know it happens. I know it does happen. And be honest with you. If someone came up to me and talked about Jesus the way you did, I go, huh? There's something wrong with that guy. But your situation, I can understand it. Here's the question I have for you. We're almost out of time. Whose idea was it to write the book about this?

[Ali Perez]

It's my daughter's partners who were there. She interviewed the medical staff and she put this 360 degree bird's eye view. It's a bunch of. It's a collection of this event from multiple perspectives. So there was not only the miracles that were happening inside the apartment with me, but there was also several miracles that happened outside as well and then in the hospital.

[John J. Wiley]

And we. Unfortunately, we don't have time to get.

[Ali Perez]

Into that trip to the hospital, man.

[John J. Wiley]

I'm gonna have to have you back or we're gonna talk about your life after. Because there's a whole other part of this that the news media never talks about. And we just are out of time. The website to get more information about the book is Raelyn Perez dot com. That's R A E L I N Perez dot com. And the book is called Bless him. And it's written by Raylan Perez. Ali, thanks for your service. Really appreciate it, brother. And thanks for being a guest on the show and talking all about it.

[Ali Perez]

Oh, man. God bless you guys. Thank you guys for having me. It is a privilege to be here, man. Thank you, sir.

[John J. Wiley]

If you want to be a guest on the law enforcement talk radio show, simply contact us. It couldn't be easier. You can send us a message on Facebook, look for and like the law enforcement talk radio show page or email J at Radio Comm. That's J a y@l e t radio.com A huge thank you for listening to this episode of the podcast version of the Law Enforcement Talk Radio show, by the way, which is a nationally syndicated radio show and we broadcast on radio stations across the United States to more than 44 million combined population. If you like our show, there's two simple things you can do. Go to our website letradio.com, add your favorites. Check it Often you can find episodes of the show right there and the second one involves our Facebook page. It's so easy to find great content, including passive episodes of the show. And when you see something that you like that resonates with you, be sure to share it with your friends. We'll be back in just a few days with another episode of the Law Enforcement Talk Radio show and Podcast. Until then, this is John Jay Whiteley. See ya.

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