A Bulgarian man shot in the head is running for city council…

Bulgarian is a candidate for city councilor in Tampa, Florida. Georgi Feshev decided to run for office after he was shot in the head, and the perpetrator has not yet been caught.

Since then, the nickname “The Persecuted” has remained with him, with which he is even recorded in the ballot.

He will compete for the District 3 seat against incumbent Councilman Lynn Hurtak, former state Sen. Janet Cruz and others.

Feshev was born in Burgas, won a green card and came to Florida in 2001.

In June 2019, he graduated from the mechanical engineering school in the seaside town, almost immediately started his own business with cars, then consulted import and export companies. However, an incident while having dinner at his home with his daughter turns his life upside down.

“It was at 11 o’clock in the evening, someone shot three times in the direction of the house and one of the bullets managed to go through the wall and this thing stuck in my head,” Feshev told BG VOICE.

Someone fired three rounds from a gun into his home on 10th Avenue in Ybor City, a suburb of Tampa. One hit a car outside, and one entered the residence, hitting him in the back of the head.

At the hospital, doctors saved his life, but the bullet residue was still in the skull. The nurses told him it was a miracle he survived. “They said someone is chasing you, you’re the one being chased.” They start calling him “The Haunted One”. Now his nickname is recorded along with his name on the election ballot for the elections for municipal councilors.

However, the police did not catch the perpetrator. Georgi suspects that this is his neighbor, with whom they had scandals before.

“That’s the problem because they’ve gotten used to these shootings here, and somehow there’s no such attitude as pursuing small and medium offenses to the last. We see what is happening in other states. People are afraid,” says Feshev.

He adds that he did not come to the United States to engage in politics, but the incident changed his life.

“Somebody needs to stand up and raise their voice and say it needs to stop, it’s not right. One of the points in my platform is the so-called a broken windows program that says that small crimes must be prosecuted, because if it goes unpunished it turns into bigger ones,” says the resident.

Although the city council does not have the right to initiate legislation, it hopes to work with the police to solve smaller crimes.

Feshev also believes that local taxes and fees should be reduced in order to stimulate business and thus the revenues in the budget. While in their municipality taxes were higher by about 2% before 2019-2021, their economy grew by about 50% less than the neighboring municipality.

And people preferred to drive a few more miles and buy their goods where the sales tax was lower. “Because of this, the gross domestic product of the municipality has lost, we do not have enough funds for affordable housing, rent assistance and other programs,” says Feshev.

Local elections in Florida are non-partisan and each candidate runs individually. Georgi Feshev, 52, is a member of the Republican Party and believes former President Donald Trump’s baseless 2020 election fraud conspiracies and believes that women’s abortion rights should be limited.

Currently in Florida, they are banned after the 15th week, when many women are not yet aware that they are pregnant. The Bulgarian, who has one daughter, believes that this term should be reduced even more.

Burgazliata is divorced with an 18-year-old daughter.

Local elections in Tampa are March 7. In the absence of a winner with more than 50%, the two candidates with the most support go to a runoff.

And although the shooting against him has not been revealed, Feshev doesn’t think he’s still being hunted, but if he is, “I’m not afraid. I’m ready. I don’t run away from trouble.’