Aurora man kidnapped, shot in Mexico over Christmas holiday returns home after recovery

AURORA, Ill. (WLS) -- Luis Gutierrez is glad to be back in Chicago a little less than a month after being kidnapped and shot twice in Mexico.

The 52-year-old Aurora man says he is mostly recovered.

"Nothing hurts in my body. That's a big change compared to two weeks ago," said Gutierrez.

Gutierrez was driving from his home in Aurora to Jalisco, Mexico with his father and one of his daughters to visit family over the Christmas holiday. When they pulled over at a rest stop in Zacatecas to sleep, three men pulled Gutierrez out of the car at gunpoint and drove him down the road.

His oldest daughter was home in Aurora when she got word of the kidnapping.

"Oh my gosh I was in tears that day," said Canyela Gutierrez. She now said she is grateful and thankful saying, "God is good."

Gutierrez said his kidnappers were arguing about where to kill him when he managed to fight them off and escape.

Aurora man recounts harrowing ordeal after being kidnapped, shot in Mexico

"They were arguing about when and where to kill me," Luis Gutierrez said. "The driver didn't want to clean up the blood from his car."

He then spent the night on the road until help arrived in the morning, and he was airlifted to a Mexican hospital.

The League of United Latin American Citizens in Chicago assisted in helping Gutierrez get back into the U.S. and to a hospital in San Antonio, Texas.

"Our concern and main focus was to bring Mr. Gutierrez back to the U.S. safely and reunite him with his family," said Manuel Cardenas of LULAC.

Gutierrez, who owns a landscaping business, finally arrived back home Thursday afternoon. His first stop was a meeting with media to thank everyone here for helping him.

"I'm like a rich man," he said.

LULAC is now raising money to help pay for Gutierrez's medical bills in San Antonio.