Police: Trail of bullets leads to carjacker

In the fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel left a trail of bread crumbs. In Philadelphia, police followed a trail of cartridges - and there, they found the bandit who they say was shot with his own handgun during a carjacking.

The saga started in Oxford Circle early Wednesday evening, while it was still light outside. Thomas Greenwald, 23, had stopped at the Hess station on Roosevelt Boulevard near Devereaux Street.

Greenwald, who lives in the Northeast, was putting gas into his Mercury Mountaineer when he leaned into the back seat to organize a few things.

That's when "the guy just ran up on me with a gun and he shoved it in my face. He wanted all my stuff and I wouldn't give it up."

They struggled in the back seat, with the gunman demanding the keys to the vehicle and Greenwald's wallet. The gunman pistol-whipped Greenwald, who managed to get a grip on the .40-caliber semiautomatic. The cartridge clip had fallen from it.

The assailant picked up the clip and kept beating Greenwald in the head, cutting his scalp in several places.

"There was blood everywhere and I just started getting woozy," said Greenwald, who is licensed to carry a firearm but did not have one with him.

As the beating continued, Greenwald said he was afraid he would lose consciousness.

"I ended up taking the safety off and I shot him," Greenwald said, recalling that he hoped one bullet remained in the chamber after the clip fell out. "I was just trying to get him off me."

The assailant backed off and ran.

"I hope the guy doesn't die," Greenwald said yesterday while recovering at home.

Capt. Jack McGinnis of Northeast Detectives said that when police arrived, they followed a trail of .40-caliber ammo from the crime scene to a rowhouse in the 1900 block of Devereaux. They found a man collapsed on the front porch with a gunshot wound.

Police also recovered the clip - bloodied - from the gun, which was left at the scene of the beating.

The injured man was identified as the carjacker and taken to Temple University Hospital. He was rushed into surgery and remained in critical condition yesterday.

McGinnis said that the man had refused to identify himself to police and that detectives hoped to get a positive identification through fingerprints. He faces a lengthy list of criminal charges, including robbery and assault, police said.

As for Greenwald, he received seven staples in the emergency room for his wounds. McGinnis said he was not facing charges.

"He was in a fight for his life," McGinnis said.

Still, he had this advice: "It's not something I would recommend for the general public. Is it worth risking your life for your car?"