A Texas door-to-door salesman was called a racial slur and shot at by a resident at a home he stopped at — but he was miraculously saved by his electronic tablet device, which blocked the bullet.
The victim, who works for Reliant Energy, was left “shook up” by the terrifying ordeal at the Fort Worth residence.
“He just came out and just straight pointed the barrel at me and then shot me and told me to ‘get away from here, n—–,'” the victim, whose name was not disclosed, told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. “I’m lucky it didn’t hit me — it hit the tablet.”
Fort Worth police said they responded to a call near the 3100 block of Purington Avenue on Thursday and found a man who said he was going door to door as a salesman for the local energy company.
At one home, a man “started yelling racial slurs at him and then fired a weapon toward him,” police said.
The salesman showed NBC Dallas-Fort Worth his wrecked tablet, its glass shattered with what appeared to be a bullet hole and a bullet-sized dent visible in the back.
Investigators found no one inside the home. Authorities did not name the victim or the suspect.
Police said Monday the case is still under investigation and officers “will be writing a warrant” on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The victim, who said he has worked for Reliant doing sales for 10 years, said: “This is the one thing I always fear — getting shot at the door and today it happened.”
“I got two daughters. I could’ve been in the hospital dead now,” he added.
In a statement, Reliant said, “We’re continuing to gather information, but are thankful the sales agent was not harmed.”
The victim was employed by a contracting agency for Reliant, a company spokesperson said.
“The safety and security of sales agents is our top priority. Fortunately, incidents like this are rare. We are fully cooperating with local law enforcement as they investigate this incident,” Reliant said.