MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A man is in jail, accused of holding three women at gunpoint at a Highland Heights gas station and kidnapping them.
Michael Lewis is charged with six counts of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of theft of property between $500 and $1,000.
Cortera Neal said she and her three friends were on their way home when they stopped to get gas at a Shell station at the corner of North Highland and Summer on a early Sunday morning in June.
“[Lewis] came up to me, and he had a gun. He pulled the gun and pointed it at me, and said, ‘Get in the car,'” Neal said. “He was like, ‘B****, you are going to take me to where I need to go.'”
She said she couldn’t stop staring at the silver gun pointed right at her.
Police said Lewis forced the women to get in the car and drive.
“We took off down Highland towards Poplar. By that time, my friend Amber tried to dial 911 on her phone,” said Neal.
That’s when she said Lewis hit her friend in the face with a full beer car. Her friend apparently hit him back with a heel, causing him to get dizzy, and giving the women enough time to get away.
“We hopped out the car while the car was still going,” said Neal.
As the women ran down the street, Neal said she heard Lewis cock his gun, but he never fired.
Neal’s mother, Dorothy Wilburn, is convinced his gun jammed.
“His gun definitely jammed. If he shot one of them, all of them were going to get shot,” she said.
What’s even scarier, Neal said days after the incident, she found out Lewis lived a few doors down from her mother on Brower.
“Right down the street. People saw him the next day with the same clothes and everything,” said Wilburn.
Police said Lewis took the women’s cellphones and cash, but left the car, which had his fingerprints all over it.
Police caught up to him. Lewis is in jail on a $100,000 bond.
His friend said he didn’t do it.
“It’s very shocking to me, because [Lewis] was never that type of guy,” his friend said.
This wasn’t the first time Lewis got in trouble with the law. He’s been charged with criminal attempt aggravated burglary and was found guilty for possessing drugs.
He’s due in court October 7.