Milwaukee- Well Sunday night was one of the luckiest days a Milwaukee police officer has had in a long time.

One Milwaukee police officer found out just how close he was to dying when he found himself being a victim of a strong arm robbery. This 36-year-old that has 5 years on the force is simply lucky to be alive.

After getting off a work he did what other people do all the time. After finishing his shift and on his way home he decided to stop on Milwaukee's northwest side and get gas and some salt for his driveway.

I have watched the video from the gas station myself and here is what I saw.

The officer which from the video does not look like a small guy was filling his tank in the parking lot of the Citgo gas station located on N.Appleton Ave and W. Hampton Ave. While getting gas, I saw the officer enter the station and then return to his SUV and hang the pump up.

As the officer was walking back to enter the station, you can see a van enter the parking lot and park next to the officer's SUV. Two males exit the side door of the van and walk into the station behind the officer as the van driven by a third man drives away.

At this time there is no way anyone would know this is an off duty police officer because he has a civilian coat on over his uniform.

Just as soon as the officer leaves the doors of the station and enters the parking lot the two males are right behind him. No sooner does the officer enter his SUV I saw the 2 males pull guns from their jackets and confront the officer. Moments later they enter the officers vechicle and leave the parking lot with the van following behind them.

With a gun to his neck and one to his head he is ordered to enter an alley a block away from the Citgo station. They order him out as the two males also get out to search him.

With one holding a gun to the officer the other male starts to search the officer. Knowing that they will soon determine he is a police officer, the officer fights back by shoving one of the men so that he can reach for his service gun. The officer is shot right away but returns fire himself striking one of the men in the finger and the other one in the shoulder. The man driving the man crashed into a fence and all three males went running east on Hampton Ave.

The officer was not injured and was able to call for back up. Once other officer's arrived, it was easy to find out where these males ran to. Seeing there was fresh snow on the ground, their foot steps and the blood trail led police right to the apartment they were hiding in. Police found blood on the door where they entered.

Now if it was not for the police officer having a bullet proof vest on and carrying a gun he would of been found murdered in that alley. Thank God that the officer decided to keep his vest on and stay armed after getting off of work. I am sure that this officer will never remove his vest after work until he gets home next time.

Now having said that, this is all going on in a city where the mayor of Milwaukee feels that people, good honest, law abiding people should not have the right to carry a weapon to protect themselves against thugs like this. He feels that you, a citizen of Milwaukee would only make things worse if you were able to carry a gun to protect yourselves.

This is coming from a mayor that has a body guard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. People need to remember that if this officer was a normal customer at that Citgo, they would of been killed.

The reason this continues to happen is because the thugs out there know that people are not allowed to carry a weapon and for that reason are easy targets. But what a surprise it was when they found themselves on the opposite side of a gun for a change.

All suspects were in police custody and are being charged. Two of the men were out on probation, and the other had a warrant for his arrest.