Original subtitles

- danger strikes when you least expect it.

- [indistinct] - [indistinct]

- it can happen at any time...

[bullet whooshes]

anywhere, to anyone.

[tires squeal, glass shatters]

now survivors will come forward...

- When you have a gun in your face,

your life flashes before your eyes.

- To tell their emotional stories...

- I felt like it was just us three going against...

- Everything.

- Taking us back to the moment of attack,

and how they survived.

I'm gio benitez, and this is "I survived a crime."

- I broke down, I started crying, and I went out.

- Turned upside down... - Beat me and kicked me...

- And my neck was pushed. - Took cabs everywhere.

- He thought I was somebody else.

- They knocked out my front tooth.

- And behind him was another man.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- our first survivor was outnumbered two to one.

But his quick thinking and resolve

may have ultimately saved his own life

and prevented others from getting hurt.

It's the overnight shift at this gas station

and convenience store in huntsville, alabama.

At 3:15 a.M., a customer drops by and buys a banana.

He leaves and then returns.

After a few words with the clerk,

it becomes clear what he really wants is the money.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

the attacker pulls out a knife.

♪ ♪

and it's met by the clerk's machete.

♪ ♪

in the middle of the battle,

the clerk hits the button on the wall

that electronically locks the front door.

The suspect is trapped.

♪ ♪

[glass shatters]

♪ ♪

outside the store is a female accomplice.

And before the clerk knows what's happening,

she starts engaging him.

Meanwhile, the original suspect

has used the diversion of his accomplice

to go back into the store to get the cash.

♪ ♪

back outside, the clerk has turned his attention

to the suspect's car.

[glass shattering]

♪ ♪

the goal, he later told the cops,

was to make the car easier for police to identify.

♪ ♪

the male suspect takes the cash

and goes to the defense of his car and his accomplice.

[glass shatters]

♪ ♪

they flee the scene.

Incredibly, no one was seriously injured that night,

including the clerk.

The suspects, 32-year-old seth holcomb

and 33-year-old laney nicholson

both pled guilty and received three years' probation.

The police recognized their car

due to its very obvious damage.

♪ ♪

drive-by shootings have taken the lives

of more innocent victims than ever before.

Our next survivor experienced

the often deadly phenomenon firsthand.

It's just before 1:00 a.M.

On a quiet Wednesday evening in louisville, kentucky.

Real estate agent patrick hemmerle

is picking up some extra cash as a rideshare driver.

He's about to drop off his passengers

at a recording studio in downtown louisville.

Along the way, he is listening to their music.

[tense music]

I decided to just go ahead and run this one last ride,

and I kinda had a bad feeling.

And I probably should have listened to my gut.

I started the trip and saw that it ran straight downtown,

and, you know, just started heading that way.

As I rounded the corner,

I noticed a vehicle stopped behind another vehicle.

The light had just turned green.

My brain was telling me

something was off about that vehicle.

As I start slowing down,

the car just kinda paced us for a second,

fell back, sped up,

and just started unloading on us for no apparent reason.

[gunshots ringing]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

I saw the muzzle flash.

The passenger was shooting out the top of the car,

just firing wildly out the window.

- The shots were fired back towards patrick's truck

as the car pulled away, the license plate obscured.

- It took me about two shots

to really recognize that it was gunshots,

and when I looked over, the third or fourth shot

came through my windshield.

And that's when a blast of

glass shards and shrapnel exploded in my face.

Then I just had a huge adrenaline dump.

I knew the bullet crashed into the cabin,

and I didn't know where it went,

and I was just trying to assess if I'd been hit or not.

I've never been shot before.

And the bullet actually bounced right in front of my face.

- Patrick and his passengers are okay.

The suspects are still at large.

It's amazing that his truck was only hit twice,

considering how many shots were fired.

- I counted probably 15 or 16.

It was definitely a full magazine.

- Patrick, who still has the nearly-lethal souvenir,

is both philosophical and practical.

- I don't know why they did it.

I was mad for a few days.

But then I decided I had to forgive them

and just hope that those young men

make better decisions as they move forward,

because you make enough bad decisions,

you're gonna have a bad life.

- So I'm probably done with the whole rideshare thing.

I'm just gonna focus on real estate more.

- Patrick credits his calm under fire

to the fact that he plays a lot of video games.

Lot

involving a bank, a boyfriend, and a beating.

Cypress, texas.

As this woman is about to step inside for family business,

a car pulls up.

This man is pursuing a hot tip,

and he wants the victim's purse.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

he pulls her toward the getaway vehicle.

♪ ♪

the woman's husband hears the commotion

and rushes to her aid.

He tries to defend his wife.

♪ ♪

the woman frees herself and runs for her life.

Meanwhile, a getaway car circles the building.

One suspect pursues the woman.

Her husband mounts a quick counterattack.

What the business owners don't know

is that their bank teller dates one of their assailants,

and she's tipped them off to the fact

that earlier that day, the woman made

a $75,000 cash withdrawal.

The attackers aren't about to walk away

from that kind of money.

♪ ♪

the woman clings to her bag

and is dragged across hot asphalt.

♪ ♪

her husband punches one assailant.

[engine revs]

♪ ♪

the woman is wedged under the rear bumper

and the attack comes to a terrifying conclusion.

♪ ♪

[engine revs]

the couple is injured but still alive and fighting.

[engine revs]

but they ultimately lose the bag.

♪ ♪

after the attack,

the woman is hospitalized in critical condition.

Her husband is treated for minor injuries at the scene.

Both make a full recovery.

♪ ♪

police arrest shelby taylor wyse,

davis mitchell, and travonn johnson.

Wyse, the bank teller, masterminded the robbery

and recruited johnson and mitchell to help.

Mitchell and johnson are arrested and charged

with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.

Wyse is arrested for felony robbery.

All three are awaiting sentencing.

Did you know that 30% of all home burglars

enter houses through unlocked front doors?

Our next survivors are 100% positive

it doesn't always end well for the intruder.

It's 1:30 in the morning at this home in idaho falls.

Time for lounging, watching a little tv,

and checking your phone.

You would hope that anyone who comes calling

at this hour is family or a friend.

Not this time.

- I'm caspian shamel. - And I'm isabelle shamel.

- And we survived a home invasion robbery.

- We just got home from a date and I was pretty tired,

and I was just scrolling through my phone,

halfway watching the documentary.

- We went out and did one of those escape rooms,

so we were pretty tuckered out from that, ready to relax.

- And then I just hear a loud bang,

and the door flies open.

- I've got a couple of roommates that live downstairs

so having people come in and out

at all hours of the night isn't super odd.

But I kinda noticed him and I did a double take.

- I just didn't know what was happening at first.

I was just in shock.

- The intruder orders caspian to take a seat.

Then he turns his attention and his shotgun

toward caspian's fiancée on the couch.

- I definitely feared for my life

whenever I saw that shotgun pointed at me.

I've never been in a situation

where a loaded gun was pointed at my face.

And it was a shock,

and kind of my life flashed before my eyes.

[tv in background] - get the [bleep] down.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

get up, [bleep]!

- Caspian reacts at once, grabbing the shotgun barrel.

- Instinct kicked in,

and I wasn't letting go of that shotgun.

At that moment, I--

just straight adrenaline, I would say.

- Caspian knows his fiancée is still in the room.

She rolls off the couch. He barks an order.

- [indistinct shout]

I actually yelled for the roommate.

[laughs]

and that was all I could muster out.

[indistinct] now!

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- caspian is actually being dragged down the stairs,

still holding that death grip on the shotgun barrel

as the intruder is now on his own version of an escape room.

- I immediately, as soon as I felt safe enough,

ran and called 911 and tried to help the best I could,

best I knew how.

Fully clear

to this home invader...

- I told him, "wrong house, buster!"

he was fully in agreement.

As we hit the stairs,

it was a change in power for sure.

He slipped, as it was icy.

I overtook him, took the weapon away from him.

♪ ♪

- the imminent threat is over,

a moment for the couple to relax.

Caspian is now armed in self-defense,

but hopefully won't need to use his weapons.

But two minutes later, an angry knock at the door

and an unbelievable request.

- I open the door,

and he was asking for his shotgun back.

And so we told him no, of course,

and he tried to force his way back into the house.

- The suspect finally fled the scene,

still without his shotgun,

which was loaded but never fired.

Caspian turned it over to the police

as he relived the sickening events.

- The police were almost arriving.

I see sirens coming up,

lights flashing around the block,

and he started heading back out the door again,

and they intercepted him there by his vehicle, so...

When the police showed up, then they wanted me to walk

through the situation with them,

and I hadn't even really fully processed it yet.

I just got incredibly, incredibly adrenaline high.

I mean, my whole entire body was shaking,

I was sweating. My face was bright red.

And so I puked.

It kind of all washes over you.

I mean, when you're in the midst of it,

you don't feel any of those things happening.

But as soon as it kinda calms down,

you're like, "holy crap. This is really pretty crazy."

- I'm just glad that you were there

and you were able to take action so quickly.

[uneasy music]

♪ ♪

and I felt safe before, but now I feel extra safe.

I know that he'll protect me no matter what.

- Having somebody to go through it with is certainly nice too.

- Just days before this attack,

caspian and isabelle got engaged.

They've since married

and tried to move on with their life together.

- It took me a while to be able to fully sleep

without being super paranoid,

that someone else was gonna break in

or something else is gonna happen.

- Arrested that night was 28-year-old eddie walker.

He pled guilty to aggravated battery,

and was sentenced to a maximum of 11 years in prison.

The irony of the evening is not lost on these two,

and serves as an important reminder for all of us.

- We were watching a true crime documentary

when this happened, and now we had to live through it.

You know, you watch all those things

and you think you know what to do,

and then it really happens, and you just

don't expect it to happen to you.

- Yeah, we're definitely a lot more on our toes now.

- Mm-hmm. A lot more careful.

♪ ♪

- experts say that a family-run business can strain

physical, emotional, and financial relationships.

But we met a family that pulled together when it mattered most.

Bergen county, new jersey.

The vega family is hard at work in their smoke shop,

mom lisa and her children john and jas.

This man has been in the store for more than 30 minutes

before finally approaching the counter.

The man kept talking about

how he could shoot john vega with his gun,

a flare gun he loaded right there on the counter.

[dynamic music]

- a man armed with a flare gun attempts to rob

the vega family smoke shop, but lisa vega,

her son, and daughter fight him off.

♪ ♪

john grabs the flare gun

and sister jas jumps on the suspect's back.

♪ ♪

- [barking]

- the family dog offers support

from behind the counter as mom heads off to get help

from the store next door.

- [barking]

♪ ♪

- john and jas neutralize their attacker

and hold him for police.

Gabriel velez was arrested and charged

with robbery, weapons violations,

and resisting arrest.

Charges are pending.

Just an unbelievable experience.

Lisa vega joins us now. Lisa, thank you for being here.

- Thank you for having me.

- What was going through your mind?

I mean, he was in that store for, what, half an hour?

- He came in very quiet. He had a hoodie.

He kinda kept his head down. He was very soft-spoken.

And then he just started saying just, like,

really weird things.

He kept kinda, like, patting his chest and saying

he had a gun and he can take the gun out and shoot us.

When he said that, like, my brain just panicked.

- And it almost looks like your son is telling him something.

- My son is just kinda trying to gauge the situation.

It happened so fast

that we all just, like, reacted.

Making a predetermination

as to how you will handle a given situation

and being in that situation-- two totally different animals.

You know what I mean? So it's, like--

- yeah, there's no way to plan. - Right.

- I mean, for you, as a mom,

watching this happen with your kids...

- I just wanted to kinda get in there and help them.

I just wanted to get the guy down and away from my children.

- At that moment, you must've been scared.

- Looking at them in that situation,

it was extremely, extremely scary.

Things could have happened in the blink of an eye.

If he had been allowed to load that flare gun--

in the back of the counter where my son was standing,

it was a shelf that was filled with butane.

- Wow.

- So put two and two together, that's very scary.

But very proud of the way, you know,

they handled it, and thankfully,

you know, we all survived.

[chuckles] - and what about the dog?

Is the dog guarding the store now?

- Mm, no, he's not. He's not.

He just didn't know what to do, the poor dog.

He's not a vicious dog, but he could be.

- How did this experience affect your family?

- I think it stays with you,

you know, for the rest of your life.

There are still days when we hear the bell

and a customer walks into the store

and we kinda get that feeling,

you know, like, that anxiousness.

I don't think that that ever goes away.

- What would you, like other people watching this today,

what would you like them to learn about this?

- You just have to be--

always be aware of your surroundings,

you know, and just be mindful,

and I think that's all you can do.

I don't think you can literally live your life, you know,

kind of base your life around this

from like a fear factor perspective.

I think you have to just move on.

- All right, lisa vega,

thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- So there you have it.

- [grunts]

- survival and strength...

- Whoa!

- Caught on camera.

I'm gio benitez, and this is "I survived a crime."

thanks for watching. Stay safe.