Victim who survived Jersey City shooting speaks out: 'They came to kill'
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (WABC) -- The man who survived the deadly shooting at a Jewish grocery store in Jersey City that claimed the lives of three people inside and a police officer in a nearby cemetery is speaking out about the harrowing ordeal.
ABC News talked with David Lax, who was inside the JC Kosher Supermarket on Martin Luther King Drive when police say David Anderson and Francine Graham came in, guns blazing.
"A lot of big bangs, it took me a minute to get, OK this is gunshots, and then everyone jumped on the floor," he said. "A couple of bullet holes and the door, I dropped to the floor and then I thought, it's over. I mean, bullets flying all over...Someone was coming open the door, so when I was still on the floor, black raincoats was passing right by me. And like a second later, when I was basically standing up, I was just facing the second shooter."
Related: What we know about victims inside Jewish market
He had stopped to pick up lunch when he came face to face with the alleged killers.
"The second gunwoman, which is basically facing right through the...glass door, she's facing me," he said. "At that time, I thank God I had the courage, I had the right mind, I just re-directed her arm and ran out of the store."
He said their intent was clear.
"The way they are holding themselves, the way they are carrying themselves, they came to kill," he said. "They didn't come to spare anyone."
Related: What we know about the suspects
Surveillance video showed him running from the market seconds after the suspects had entered.
"I didn't look back, I just turned from the store I just came out of, I see they were basically shooting after me even after that," he said. "Obviously, it's just a miracle, another miracle, because as far as I know, it's hard to miss with a shotgun at such a close range."
He said a child standing by the front of the door ran with him.
"This child was about to go into the yeshiva, the synagogue, and then exactly at that moment, he saw the two gunman coming out to the car and trying to shoot," he said. "He's very brave, very smart. We met on the corner of the street. I was running faster than him, so I passed by him, and then I was turning around and I saw him. He started talking to me, so I said you know what you're coming with me."
Police say Anderson and Graham murdered three people inside the market, identified as 24-year-old Moshe Deutsch, 49-year-old Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, and 31-year-old Mindy Ferencz. Earlier, authorities say they gunned down 40-year-old Detective Joseph Seals at Bay Ville Cemetery.
Related: What we know about Detective Joseph Seals
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the evidence is strongly pointing towards hate as a motive. He also said it is being investigated as domestic terrorism fueled by anti-Semitic and anti-police beliefs.
"People are traumatized," Lax said. "People are very strong. They just try to build up again. I mean, a lot of strong people, and we'll get through it. With the help of others, we'll get through it."
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