A former contestant from “Dancing with the Stars” recently opened up about a frightening experience his daughter endured. Season 6 DWTS contestant Cristián de la Fuente finished his season with partner Cheryl Burke in third place, and he recently reunited with her for an episode of her podcast.
De la Fuente and Burke reminisced over their time together on “Dancing with the Stars” and he opened up about his childhood and other personal life experiences. Near the end of the podcast, he revealed a frightening incident involving his daughter, Laura, being shot.
Here’s what you need to know:
Cristián de la Fuente’s Daughter Was Shot When Men Attempted to Steal His Watch
During the June 9 episode of Burke’s “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast, de la Fuente shared the story of how a celebration for his birthday nearly turned to tragedy.
The “Dancing with the Stars” alum explained that the incident happened two years ago.
Before heading to a restaurant to celebrate his birthday, de la Fuente picked up his daughter from school. He soon discovered that “a couple of guys were following me because they wanted to steal my watch.”
De la Fuente stopped at a friend’s house to drop off his daughter, and one of the guys following him “knocked on the window with the gun.”
The “Dancing with the Stars” alum ran away, but the guy who had followed him shot at him “trying to kill me.” De la Fuente added the bullet flew just three centimeters away from his face.
Unfortunately, “Then he hit my daughter in the legs.” De la Fuente drove his daughter to the nearest hospital.
“Then thank God, it was a miracle,” he said of his daughter’s injuries and recovery. “The bullet went in one leg, got out, and then it ended up in the other leg,” he explained of the gunshot.
“But nothing serious happened in the way that there was no bone or no arteries broken. So then she was in a wheelchair,” he shared.
The DWTS Alum & His Family Celebrate ‘Another Chance of Living’ for Laura
De la Fuente’s daughter spent two months in a wheelchair as she recovered, as she couldn’t walk. “Then we did all this therapy in order for her to go back to walking, running, and then playing sports.”
This year, the “Dancing with the Stars” alum revealed, his daughter did a race called the “Promotional.” It’s a shorter version of the Ironman race, and his daughter completed it. “She’s playing soccer and she’s healthy,” he added.
“The guys, thank God, are in jail. And they’re going to be there for a while,” de la Fuente added.
Since then, de la Fuente told Burke, he has only worn “plastic watches.”
He noted, “Since then, it’s nice because for my birthday, March 10th, we celebrate my birthday, and she has another birthday because it’s one year of another chance of living.”
De la Fuente added he’s the “happiest guy [on] the planet” seeing her succeed after her recovery.
Two days after the shooting, Laura took to her Instagram page to thank her parents for, according to Instagram’s translation, “always being by my side supporting me through this very painful and traumatic time.”
She also thanked the medical staff who helped her along with “all my friends, family and people I may not know but were present through all the good energy you sent and prayer chains for everything to work out.”
She posted her thank you note from home, having been released from the hospital. “Now to focus on myself and my recovery to soon get ahead and walk again,” she shared.
The teen added, “I hope that one day we can again feel calm, safe, without fear and free on the streets of our country that I love so much!”
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