Boston carjack victim on narrow escape: 'God was with me'

36 minutes ago

The 26-year-old Chinese entrepreneur who was carjacked by alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev described a frightening encounter and a daring escape.

To protect his privacy, the man spoke with Matt Lauer on TODAY with his face concealed and his voice modified, going only by his nickname, ?Danny,?? to describe the events of April 18. Three nights after the bombing, Danny was sitting in his new Mercedes when a man came from behind the car, put his hand through the open window and opened the door from the inside before pointing a gun only inches from his head.

Danny did not know it was Tamerlan Tsarnaev. His attacker asked him if he had been following the news of the bombings.

?I said, "Yes, of course,??? Danny told Lauer. ?Then he said, ?I did that. And I just killed a policeman in Cambridge.???

Danny drove as Tsarnaev pointed the gun at him. Tsarnaev?s younger brother, 19-year-old bombing suspect Dzhokhar, followed them in a sedan.

?At first, I can't manage to drive,?? Danny said. ?I was shaking. My body was shaking. Tamerlan told me, ?Relax, man. Slow down. Don't drive too fast.???

Tamerlan soon took over the wheel and Dzhokhar joined them in the Mercedes. The brothers loaded items from the second car into the Mercedes, which Danny said he now knows were explosives but did not know at the time. He described Dzokhar as quiet and deferential to his older brother as the two stopped at a gas station in Cambridge.

"I think Dzhokhar is, like, a follower,'' Danny said. "He went out to the A.T.M. (at the gas station). He went out to get the gas. Tamerlan never got out of the car."

With the car stopped at the gas station, Danny made his move to escape. After Dzhokhar left his vehicle to go to an A.T.M. and pump gas, Danny unbuckled his seatbelt with his left hand, opened the door with his right hand and ran from the car with Tamerlan still sitting in it.

?I took off,?? he said. ?(Tamerlan) tried to grab me. He was trying to grab me. It was very close. I can feel it.?

Danny ran to another gas station and called 911, telling police they could locate the suspects through his car?s satellite system and the iPhone he left behind.

Police used the car?s GPS to track the suspects, cornering the two brothers before a shootout erupted that left Tamerlan dead and left 32 bullet holes in the Mercedes.

?I think I was really lucky,?? Danny said of his escape. ?God was with me.?

Danny's actions may have prevented further bloodshed that night.

"I was trying to do what I can do,'' he said. "I was still worried it will come back to me. When I heard the news (that Tamerlan was killed by police), I (felt) a little bit of relief.''

"He doesn't like to think of himself as a hero," said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology and Danny's adviser. "Because in his own words, he was only trying to save himself. But of course, by saving himself, he may have saved countless other lives, if in fact these two suspects were planning to do more bombings."

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b61e24b/l/0L0Stoday0N0Cnews0Cboston0Ecarjack0Evictim0Enarrow0Eescape0Egod0Ewas0Eme0E6C9690A345/story01.htm

Yunel Escobar Irish Daily Star Black Mesa matt ryan matt ryan att wireless Mother Jones