SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - An off-duty sheriff’s deputy is being called a hero after he took three bullets while trying to save his brother from a man with a gun.
Jason Philpot, an 11-year veteran of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, was walking down Island Avenue near 6th Street early Monday morning with his brother and several friends.
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Philpot's brother, who did not wish to be named, told 10News a man approached him and revealed a gun under his shirt.
His brother would not say what was said between the two of them but at one point he yelled, “he’s got a gun!”
That’s when Jason jumped into action.
“My brother came from out of no where like the hero that he is, grabbed this guy and had a struggle with the gun,” Philpot's brother said.
Philpot was hit three times. A bystander, identified as Vladimir Shvets, was also shot.
One of Philpot’s friends, an off-duty Escondido Police officer had just said goodbye and was walking about 20 yards away. He heard the shots and ran over to help.
“I was shocked, upset, a lot of emotions,” said the officer, who did not want to be identified.
“Initially I was concerned about a collapsed lung, due to the location of the gunshot to his upper chest. Also the two shots in his upper arm, I was concerned with his brachial artery,” he said.
Philpot has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home with his family. Shvets has also been released.
Philpot's brother credit's the off-duty sheriff's deputy with his life.
"If my brother was not to do what he did, that guy would have shot me I feel," he said.
Police are still searching for the suspected shooter - described as a black man with shoulder-length dreadlocks, in his 30's, about 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall and weighing 160 to 170 pounds.
The suspect was last seen wearing black shorts and a long-sleeve shirt, and police said witnesses saw him fleeing the scene south on Island Avenue and then east on K Street.
Based on surveillance footage taken in the area, police said they are searching for a second person possibly involved in the confrontation. A description of that person was not given.
