HOLLYWOOD (CBS) — A man caught in the line of fire of the Hollywood gunman says he literally came within an inch of his life.

“Looking back, it could have been me,” said Don Riedel, 77.

Riedel told KCAL9′s Rachel Kim that he’s always been lucky, but especially so Friday morning. He just escaped being shot.

He didn’t know the man had a gun.”I was just heading south on Vine street, going across Sunset Boulevard, and in the middle of the street, I saw this fella…”

Riedel kept driving. But then he heard a bullet hit his driver’s side door. Then he felt the glass shatter. The car door stopped the bullet.

“If the bullet had gone all the way through, it would have hit me,” he says.

Riedel can’t believe he made it out with just scratches to his face.

He feels blessed. “The moral of the story…don’t go to bed mad at anybody. Cause you don’t know if you’re going to be here tomorrow. I really mean that.”

Riedel turns 78 on Christmas day and he tells Kim being able to celebrate this birthday will be the best present he ever received.