MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis man shared his story with WREG after he was shot by a masked man trying to rob him.
The shooting happened a little after 8:15 p.m. in the parking lot of the El Toro Loco restaurant on Poplar Avenue.
That masked assailant is still on the run.
“Bullet goes in here, goes out the other side. I thought it was a stun gun because my leg just went numb right away.”
Recovering at his home on Friday, Ellis Winter showed WREG his wound and told his wild story about an attempted robbery.
Winter and his wife had just finished dinner at El Toro Loco on Poplar when his wife got a cramp in her leg.
She was stretching it out when Winter said he suddenly saw a man with a gun.
“So then I realize he’s got a gun pointed at my wife and I’m like, ‘I’m gonna do something about this,'” he said.
In seconds, Winter got between the masked robber and his wife.
“But I don’t have a gun. I just get out there and get between them so now he’s got a gun on me,” he explained.
The man repeatedly asked for the couple’s wallets.
Winter, now retired, was a teacher for 41 years and Thursday night he wasn’t letting anyone get away with his belongings.
“I got in my old teacher voice I said, ‘you need to just leave with that gun. Go that way.'”
Winter said from what he could tell, the armed robber was stunned.
“He just stood there awhile then all of a sudden the gun went off and I felt something in my leg.”
The attacker then took off, empty handed.
Winter said he knows he probably should’ve handed over his wallet but as a former teacher the first thing he thought to do was protect his wife.
“If a guy came in the classroom with a gun the teacher is going to take the first bullet and that’s always in the back of my mind when I taught school. But if my wife’s there I’m taking the first bullet. It’s just what you do.”
Doctors said Winter should be just fine and he’s thankful his injury wasn’t worse.
“I don’t know if the man lowered the gun or if Jesus was just pushing it down you know?”
Despite the scary ordeal Winter and his wife said they would go back to the restaurant.
However they both hoped management invests in more lights for the parking lot.
If you know anything about the case call CrimeStoppers at (901) 528-CASH.
