The friend of the man accused of committing Friday’s deadly rampage through Melbourne’s CBD claims he told her he would run over pedestrians if police did not stop pursuing him.
Akiir Muo said she was taken hostage for about four hours yesterday morning by 26-year-old Dimitrious Gargasoulas, whose nickname is Jimi.
Gargasoulas was shot by police and arrested on Friday after four people were killed when the car he was driving sped through the Bourke Street pedestrian mall.
The 25-year-old woman had been dating him on and off for about five months.
She said from about 7:00am he drove her to various places including Windsor and Port Melbourne before ending up on the Bolte Bridge.
She said Gargasoulas was yelling at police that he would surrender if they stopped following him.
“[He said] ‘If they leave me alone I will stop and turn myself in’, but they kept on following him which made him even more angrier,” Ms Muo said.
“I reckon he would have maybe stopped, that’s what he, I’m going by his words, that’s what he was telling me.”
Car was ‘surrounded by police’ on Bolte Bridge
She said police continued their pursuit and she claimed he went on to make threats related to the CBD.
“I swear to God I will go to the city and I will run, you know, people over, I will run them over if they are going to come catch me,” she claimed he said.
Ms Muo said police surrounded the car on the Bolte Bridge, she was scared, and he opened the door to let her escape.
“There was police, divvy vans, and that all surrounded him, and police out with guns and that and so he just told me to leave,” she said.
“I told him can you jump out with me at least, you know, like just turn yourself in, don’t make this any harder, like you can see they have guns everywhere.”
“I was begging him to stop but he just wouldn’t,” Ms Muo said.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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