Witness to Hillsborough deputy-involved shooting: 'He had no other option.' (w/video)

RIVERVIEW — Steve Leske's 10-year-old son did what he was taught to do when father and son returned from school Tuesday afternoon: He locked the front door.

Shortly after, Leske, his son and four-year-old daughter were watching an episode of the Peppa Pig cartoon when someone tried to turn the knob on the front door, then started banging.

"If the door had been open or unlocked, the guy would have been in my house," said Leske, 47.

The man on the other side of the door, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday, was 31-year-old Isaias Salgado, a Winter Haven man with a lengthy arrest record.

Seconds later, he was dead, felled by gunfire from Deputy Stuart Gray as Leske watched from his front door.

The Sheriff's Office on Tuesday provided an account of what happened before and during the shooting. They released Salgado's name on Wednesday.

About an hour before the shooting, deputies say, Salgado was involved in a three-car crash at the intersection of Gibsonton and Brandywood drives. He ran away as a witness dialed 911 and followed him from a distance.

Salgado ran to a nearby Lowe's store at 10425 Gibsonton Drive and tried to carjack two vehicles, according to the Sheriff's Office. When that failed, he ran to the Ruby Tuesday restaurant at 10509 Gibsonton Drive and attempted to steal a third vehicle from its driver. That also failed.

Salgado ran into a residential neighborhood, going down Rivercrest Drive to Oak Ridge Avenue. Deputies said he tried to enter several unoccupied vehicles and houses there.

Surveillance video from a camera trained on Leske's porch shows Salgado swinging open the storm door, trying the knob and banging a couple of times.

Inside, Leske jumped out of his recliner and looked out the peephole in time to see a patrol car pull up into his yard. Gray, a 24-year veteran of the force, was behind the wheel.

Leske said he watched Salgado pick up a brick, run toward the car and throw the brick at the driver's side window just as Gray was starting to open the door.

"If the window had been down," Leske said, "he would have hit the cop in the head."

Gray opened the door, forcing Salgado to take a couple of steps back, and drew his gun, Leske said. He told Salgado to freeze, but Salgado charged at him again.

Gray opened fire, hitting Salgado in the chest about five times, Leske said. He died the scene.

"He had no other option," Leske said. "(Salgado) was coming at him and he wasn't stopping. He was on a mission."

Gray suffered minor injuries during the scuffle and was treated at the scene. Sheriff's Col. Donna Lusczynski said Gray drew his weapon and opened fire because he feared for his life. He was placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, which is standard procedure in such cases.

Lusczynski said detectives did not know why Salgado ran from the crash scene. The car he was driving did not appear to be stolen, she said, and he was unarmed when he attempted to steal the three vehicles from their drivers.

State records show Salgado was first arrested at the age of 11 and since then has been found guilty of trespassing, larceny, aggravated battery, possession of a short-barreled shotgun and marijuana possession. Charges from other arrests, including armed carjacking and possession of a weapon on school property, were later dropped. His most recent arrest came last year, when he was charged with violating probation.

Reached by phone, Salgado's sister declined to comment Wednesday. A friend, Jesus Gutierrez, said he was shocked when he heard what happened.

Gutierrez, 35, said Salgado had a rocky past but seemed to be taking a better path. He'd spent some time in Mexico, got married there and had a daughter, Gutierrez said. When Gutierrez last spoke to him a couple of months ago, Salgado was trying to find a job to save money to bring his wife and daughter to the United States.

Gutierrez said he doesn't think his friend had any mental health issues or drug habits.

"He was trying to straighten up his life," he said.

Leske said it was difficult to explain to his children what had happened in their front yard. But the moral, he said, was clear.

"There are bad people in the world and these things happen," he said. "You have to be vigilant."

Contact Tony Marrero at tmarrero@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3374. Follow @tmarrerotimes.