Deputy testifies about being shot

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A deputy on a domestic call finds herself starring down the barrel of gun, then dodging bullets and running for her life.

Today, that Hillsborough deputy told her story to a jury in Matthew Buendia's trial for attempted murder.

The jury was gripped as they listened to Deputy Lyonelle De Veaux's story of survival.  She said she was on a domestic call the day she encountered Buendia.  He came towards her, allegedly wanting help looking for his dog.

She says he kept insisting his dog was missing.  But the next thing she knew, he pulled up his shirt and pulled out a gun.

"As soon as he pulled out the weapon  and pointed it at me, he began to shoot. And I saw two muzzle flashes, which let me know it was two shots…instinctively I reached for my own weapon to try to return fire," she testified.  "I realized I would not have time to get my weapon in time before he continued firing on me.

"At that point, I turned my body to start to run and I felt a burning sensation in a couple of areas in my shoulder -- left shoulder -- and then I started feeling a burning sensation in my thigh and that's when I realized I had been shot."

Deputy De Veaux says he ducked by her patrol car and then ran towards the gate of the apartment complex and radioed for help.  She was shot in the shoulder, thigh, and calf.

Buendia's defense team says the former Marine suffers from PTSD and was insane at the time of the shooting.

If convicted, he is facing life in prison.