INDIANAPOLIS — A bystander who stepped in to save children during an attempted carjacking is speaking out.
It happened at a gas station on Indianapolis' south side last weekend.
Police say a man attempted to steal a woman's car with her kids still inside, but before he got away, another customer with a gun intervened.
"When she had yelled, my body just reacted," said Slym Abrams.
The 23-year-old Abrams is still processing what happened at the Marathon convenience store last Sunday, where an ordinary trip for gas turned deadly once he walked into the parking lot.
"At first I heard her make a noise but I thought they were playing," said Abrams. "But when she made that noise again but this time it was more, I wanted to say it was more pain, there was more to it. It wasn't right."
Reports said what Abrams was actually seeing was a man trying to carjack a woman named Courtney Hall. Her four kids were in the car and she was trying to fight off the thief and prevent him from taking the car. Once Abrams noticed the man had a gun, he said he instantly reacted and got the man's attention by yelling at him to stop.
"Next thing you know, shots went off and he turned towards me. I just thought 'either me and you or just you,'" Abrams said.
He said it all happened fast. He didn't think things would escalate that far but felt he had no other choice. After he shot the man, Abrams said he immediately checked on him and moved the other gun, then checked on Hall and saw that she had been shot both arms. That's when she told him she had kids in the car. He said he still has flashbacks of seeing their faces in the car.
"For them to be babies, though, and go through that, they shouldn't have to go through that. They're still fresh," he said.
Although Abrams said he was glad he was at the gas station at the time, he wishes things had happened differently. He says the shooting has caused him to be overprotective. He frequently looks over his shoulders now and has changed his outlook on life.
"I always knew things happened, but when you come across it and live through it, it's like life is real and it can happen at any second," Abrams said.
He added he hopes his story will encourage more people to look out for one another.