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'My God. That's gunfire': Vancouver man confronts would-be car thieves

A Vancouver man says he is fortunate to be alive after getting tangled up with a trio of would-be car thieves.

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- A Vancouver man says he is fortunate to be alive after getting tangled up with a trio of would-be car thieves.

“It could’ve ended a whole lot differently,” said the man who only wants to be identified as Tim.

Tim started his car early Thursday morning to warm it up. He ran inside for no more than 30 seconds, only to return to the car to find a teenager behind the wheel, trying to back the car down the driveway on East 13th Street.

“Once it got down to the street I just came up and grabbed the door and came around and jumped in and grabbed him and said, ‘Get out of my car!’” Tim explained.

What happened next is nothing short of wild. Tim said the now unoccupied car rolled down the street and slammed into a telephone pole. All of this happened as Tim wrestled with the teen.

“We were rolling around and next thing I know there’s a pop, pop, pop,” he said. “I’m like, 'Oh my God. That’s gunfire.'”

The gunfire, Tim said, came from one of the teenager’s two friends who were watching the scuffle. Tim ran inside and called police. Officers tracked down two of the suspects just a few blocks away.

“You should never warm up your car and not be in it,” said Kathy, Tim’s wife. “Anything can happen.”

Nobody knows that better than Tim.

“I’m feeling blessed,” he said.

Officers are looking for the third suspect.

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