A social media influencer with a 4.3 million TikTok following is sharing a harrowing experience allegedly involving her former stepfather, who now faces attempted murder charges after shooting and nearly killing her.
Eixchel Berroteran, known as Eixchelb, documented the incident in a social media post and showed gruesome photos of the injuries she sustained.
"Only God knows why I'm still here, and I ask him to give me the strength to move on and that at some point he can heal my heart," she wrote.
*warning, graphic images below*
Berroteran, originally from Venezuela but now living in South Florida, was attacked by her mother's former husband of 13 years, 64-year-old Luis Damas.
On August 21, Damas reportedly showed up at the Miami apartment where his ex-wife and former stepdaughter were living and demanded to be let in.
Damas and Berroteran's mother began to argue as he looked for Berroteran while shouting, "She's the reason we cannot be together."
Unhinged, he pulled out a gun and said he was going to kill the TikTok star.
Damas found her Berroteran in a bedroom, pointed the gun at her, fired one shot-missing her-and said, "I'm going to kill you."
She attempted to hide under a mattress when her mother began to wrestle with Damas as Berroteran jumped on him, according to NBC Miami.
"I threw myself on the floor, asking him to please not do anything, with the intention of getting under the bed, but I was very short, and I decided to crawl towards him, screaming for him to stop, and at that moment I heard the shot that left me stunned; but my mom, who was already behind him, wrestled him so the shot didn't hit me," Berroteran wrote in Spanish on Instagram.
He allegedly continued to struggle with both women, biting and pulling hair with the gun placed beneath his thigh.
After pleading with Damas to calm down, he agreed to sit down and talk and then demanded the ex-wife help him clean up the scene.
While walking him out, she reassured him that they would not contact the authorities about the incident.
She later told investigators they did not contact them immediately because she feared Damas would have them killed by a hitman he knew.
It was when they went to the hospital the following day that they contacted police.
Damas was arrested on several charges, including attempted murder, aggravated assault with a firearm, burglary with assault or battery, attempted tapering with physical evidence, false imprisonment, and felony battery.
"There are no words to describe the terror, pain, trauma, anxiety, and panic attacks this has caused us," said Berroteran.
