Dallas artist Tony Lechuga spent months in the hospital after being shot twice while jogging in east Dallas.
Police say he was an innocent victim caught between feuding gangs. Now, he feels victimized again because charges against the alleged shooter have been dismissed. Luchuga, 38, spends much of his time at his art studio in east Dallas.
Life as he knew it changed in July 2022 after he stepped out his studio door for an afternoon run along the busy Santa Fe trail.
“I was shot twice here in the abdomen while running. I should be dead,” said Lechuga.
Doctors removed a bullet from his back. He spent about six months recovering from multiple surgeries and setbacks.
“It felt like I got hit with a bat in my stomach,” Lechuga told NBC 5 from his hospital bed in August 2022.
Dallas police arrested two suspects about a month later and said in an arrest affidavit that Tony was an innocent bystander caught between feuding gangs.
Gilbert Uvalle pleaded guilty in July 2023 and was sentenced to six years behind bars. But Lechuga says just before the alleged shooter was set to go on trial earlier this month, he found out the cases were dismissed.
“Extremely shocked when I found that out when I knew that not only was I not going to get any sort of justice, I didn’t even get a chance or an opportunity for any type of justice,” he said.
The Dallas County District Attorney’s office says the cases were dismissed “in the interest of justice after speaking with available witnesses.”
For Lechuga, it’s like reopening a wound.
“It leaves me angry. It leaves me enraged. I don’t know what’s next,” he said.
Lechuga returned to his studio six months after he left that fateful day.
“My recovery really wasn’t able to begin until I was able to come back here,” he said.
His latest project is inspired, he says, by all the flowers he received in the hospital.
“I see these as flowers for the living,” said Lechuga.
