Lamant Levels, one of the eight co-founders of the Dallas Bloods street gang, has been blind since 2001 when he was shot in the head during a drug deal gone wrong.

Since then, Level has dedicated his life to his non-profit, Now Eye See, Inc., a gang-intervention program.

A couple weeks ago, Levels was attacked by what he believes are members of the Dallas Bloods, the very gang he founded.

He was headed home from a local convenience store where he swapped large bills for one-dollar bills, something he frequently did, when he was hit over the head by a gun. The pain was so excruciating that Levels thought he had been shot.

While Levels laid huddled in a ball on the ground, one of the robbers held his hands behind his back while the other raided the former gang member’s pockets. Based on his previous experience, Levels knew the person holding him back had to have a gun.

Levels decided to fight the gunman. When Levels reached for the firearm, the gunman bit him in the back. Levels turned the gun on man holding him back.

“As soon as I got the gun, I just turned and fired, ‘pow,’ and he took off running,” Levels told WFFA. “They say I grazed him.”

Levels eventually realized he recognized the gunman. It was someone he knew. What gave the gunman away: an extended magazine clip.

“Don’t too many people walk around here with an extended gun and there’s only one guy that had that type of gun, so I knew it was him,” he said.

The former gang member hopes these young members of the Dallas Bloods see the light before it’s too late.

“Back in my day, when I was a gang member, we respected our senior citizens, our elderly, and our disabled,” Levels said. “I see why so many of our young kids are dying — because they have no respect for no one.”