Victim of Attempting Carjacking Says He Had Shotgun to his Face

A U.S. Marine veteran was waiting for his colleagues Wednesday when an armed carjacking suspect attempted to carjack him at a parking lot in Temecula.

David Lebedeff was waiting for his vanpool when a car pulled up next to his truck and a suspect wearing a bandana over his face got out.

The man approached Lebedeff and tried to open his truck door but Lebedeff said he slammed it shut, knocking the suspect off balance.

The suspect had been carrying a shotgun.

Unknown to Lebedeff at the time, the suspect along with the driver of the car and a woman riding in the backseat had been involved in a crime spree that spanned two Southern California counties.

The three suspects first fired shots at a tow truck diver in the area of Gopher Canyon road and East Vista Way around 4 a.m., the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSO) said. The tow truck driver, fearing for his life, drove off and the suspects crashed their vehicle while attempting to pursue him.

When another driver pulled over to help them, the three suspects carjacked her 2005 Grey Doge Neon and drove off.

Just after 5 a.m., the suspects encountered Lebedeff at the parking lot of The Promenade in Temecula.

"He wanted me out of my truck," said Lebedeff. "I wasn't going to get out."

"It pissed me off. You throw a shot gun in my face, hell. At 23-years in United States Marine Corps, it just pissed me off," he added.

Instead of backing off, Lebedeff said he drove his truck into side of the car and the suspect fired at him. The bullets hit his truck.

“It just made me mad that someone was going to come into my town and basically try to take something away from me, from the community that I live in," he told NBC 7, adding that Temecula was usually a safe city.

Lebedeff said he wasn't scared but has just one regret.

“Thinking back on it, would I have done anything different? Probably not—I just wish that I would have hit him twice and just got a hold of them.”

As of Wednesday night, the woman and two men involved in the incident are still outstanding, SDSO said.

One of the suspects is described to be in his mid-20s, 5-feet 10-inches tall with a medium build, light complexion and facial hair on his chin.