Seton Hall basketball star Jeremy Hazell reveals in an exclusive interview the pain he felt when a bandit's bullet pierced his body as he fled a stickup.
"I knew I got shot," he told the Daily News Monday. "I felt it, but I just kept running."
"It was scary," the senior guard said of his run-in with four men at the Carver Houses on E. 104th St. early Sunday.
"I didn't know these guys - never saw them before. They just tried to rob me. I never knew something like this could happen to me."
Hazell, 24, says he was walking home from a friend's Christmas party when the robbers approached.
"I just got to the front door of my building when these four dudes came up to me," said Hazell, who has been sidelined since breaking a bone in his left wrist in a game last month.
"One of them had a hand in his pocket and told me to sit down on this bench. I didn't want to, and he said if I didn't he was going to shoot me."
Hazell said he pushed the robber in the chest - and made a real-life fast break.
He said he heard the thug squeeze off four shots as he bolted toward E. 105th St.
One of the slugs penetrated his side, just below his armpit, and then exited his body.
Hazell said that when he got to the corner of E. 105th St. and Park Ave., he flagged down a passing FDNY ambulance."They worked on me there and then took me to the hospital," he said.
He said he was treated at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and then released.
Police said they are investigating. No arrests have been made.
Seton Hall hoops coach Kevin Willard said he didn't learn his star player was shot until after the Pirates lost 69-61 to Richmond on Sunday afternoon.
Hazell had gotten permission to skip the game to spend Christmas with his family.
"We're all thankful Jeremy is okay," the first-year coach said. "You hear news like that and the first thing you think is, 'How bad is it?'"
The shooting capped a frustrating stretch for the lanky, 6-foot-5 NBA hopeful. Hazell chose to return to Seton Hall for his senior season rather than pursue a big-money pro contract.
"I just feel very lucky, very blessed," he said.
He had surgery Dec. 2 and was expected to miss up to six weeks - but now he could be out for the rest of the season.
Be Strong And Don't Let these Streets Get The Best Of You
Jeremy Hazell #21 G
| 2010-11 STATS | |||||
| PPG | APG | 3P% | RPG | BPG | SPG |
| 24 | 1.7 | .647 | 2 | 0.3 | 2.3 |
| Birth Place | Harlem, NY | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6-5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 188 lbs. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | G |
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