Sheldon Pottinger, 25, is a father of three who managed to escape the accused murderer of four with only a few cuts and bruises.
He was leaving a youth revival at his church after midnight when Gelman, a fugitive, ran by.
"I saw this guy running down the street, coming. I didn't know what it was. As soon as he reached my car he pulled the door he pulled out a knife. And he kept jerking at me telling me to get out of the car, that he's going to kill me," carjacking victim Pottinger said.
Pottinger was warming up his Nissan Altima for his wife when he says Gelman forced his way in looking possessed.
"I started screaming and then I saw him jump in the car and drive off, really fast," Pottinger's wife Chantel said.
"If I had not pushed myself over to the passenger seat he would have stabbed me. Because he come in the car and was pushing the knife saying 'I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill you. Get out of the car'," Pottinger said.
Pottinger held onto Gelman's hand for two blocks so he wouldn't stab him.
"This guy was driving fast and I pushed myself out of the car, I opened the door and fell on the floor, I get up and I start running. I run back down to the church. I could not talk because I hit my back on the floor. When I reached the church, I passed out on the floor," Pottinger recalls of his horrifying ordeal.
"I thought he was dead," Mrs. Pottinger said.
"I know it was God that saved me. I know that for a fact because I was just coming out of the church," Pottinger said.
