Gas Station Clerk Describes Boston Carjacking Victim Fleeing From The Tsarnaev Brothers

The New York Times has published the most detailed account yet of the mayhem that occurred in Cambridge and Watertown, Mass. on the night of April 18 and the subsequent manhunt for the Boston bombing suspects the following day.

Authorities told the Times that after the Tsarnaev brothers killed MIT Police Officer, 27, in an failed attempt to steal his gun, Tamerlan Tsarnaev carjacked a Mercedes SUV before picking up his younger brother and heading to a Shell gas station in Cambridge.

The victim of the carjacking fled to the Mobil gas station across the street, and the clerk working at time told the Times what happened next.

From The Times (emphasis ours):

At the Mobil station, Tarek Ahmed, 45, was working the overnight shift when, he said, a panicked man “came in running.”

“He opens the door,” Mr. Ahmed recalled in an interview. “I stood up. He was screaming, saying: ‘Call the police. They have bombs. They have a gun. They want to kill me.’ I thought he was drunk.”

Then Mr. Ahmed realized he was serious.

“He ran behind the counter and ran into the back room, a storage room, and locked the door,” Mr. Ahmed recalled. “At this moment, I believe him. He was honest, that somebody wanted to shoot him. So I took the phone, and I called 911.

“I tried not to look outside at anything. I wanted to make it appear as if nothing was wrong. I was hoping the suspects didn’t see where he went. At the same time, I told the police what happened. As I’m talking to the police, I back up slowly and knock on the storage room door. The guy opened the door, and I handed him the phone.”

The suspects didn't seem to care about the carjacking victim as they subsequently drove to Watertown, but a law enforcement source told the Times that they were able to track the vehicle because the victim left his cellphone in the Mercedes.

A shootout occurred once police reached the stolen SUV, and 26-year-old Tamerlan was killed. Dzhokhar, 19, fled the scene and was captured about 20 hours later after a citywide lockdown.