Tattoo artist shot during robbery

TAMPA - Had the wound on Benny Perez’s head been any lower, there’s a good chance he might not be alive today.

“I should be dead. By all laws of everything, I should be dead. Miracles and that, nah, God was protecting me,” explained Perez.

Saturday police say three men, Antonio Madden, Dominic Baldwin and Melvin Monroe-Wilson, all from Lakeland, went into The K&B Tattoo shop where Perez works.

They got a price estimate for a tattoo and left. But Perez says minutes later, the men were back, and this time they had a gun.

“I went and stood next to my girl and they pulled out the gun and started waving the gun around,” said Perez.

Police say the men took cash, jewelry and a rifle from the shop. They then tied up Perez and his girlfriend Erica Grulke, who’s three months pregnant.

“They told me to lay on my stomach and I told them no, I wasn’t going to lay on my stomach because I was pregnant,” retold Grulke.

With the goods in tow, police say the men took off.

What they most likely didn’t expect was that, just moments later, Perez would come after them.

“She got out of her restraints, ripped mine off and I went and loaded my gun and went outside and I was gonna get mine,” according to Perez.

Perez fired his gun. Police say one of the three men fired back, hitting Perez in the head.

“He only shot me probably from about six feet. I should be dead,” explained Perez.

Officers were on the scene within minutes. Before Perez was even in the ambulance, they had two of the suspects in custody. Just a short time later, they arrested the third.

After a four hour trip to the hospital, Perez was a little shaken, but fine.

“Thank god I’m alive. I got a kid to take care of,” adds Perez.

Now Perez and his girlfriend have their cash and jewelry back.

Monday, he’ll return to work at K&B Tattoos for business as usual.

Madden, Baldwin and Munroe-Wilson face charges of attempted homicide, armed robbery and armed kidnapping.

They remained in jail Sunday night. They’ll make their first appearance before a judge Monday morning.