Neighbors recall frightening moments when a man tried to blow up a Queens home: "I thought we were gonna die"

The neighbors of a man who allegedly killed his relatives and tried to blow up his Queens house recounted the terrifying moments as the incident unfolded just below their home. 

Police say Kegan Thomas, 33, barricaded himself Saturday inside a Far Rockaway home and killed two of his relatives. As officers were preparing to enter the home, there was a fiery explosion. Then, Thomas walked out, armed with a shotgun and additional ammo, and got into a shootout with officers.

Thomas was charged with murder, attempted murder, arson and animal cruelty, among other charges. 

His neighbors, who were trapped upstairs, spoke exclusively to CBS News New York's Ali Bauman.

"It was so many gunshots" 

Amari Mosley, 12, was home with his three younger siblings and two moms when they heard gunshots. They live in the upper unit of a two-family home where the incident happened. 

"I thought we were gonna die that day," said Cherise Johnson, Amari's mother.

Johnson said they were looking out the window as police responded to the scene.

"I kept telling them to get out the window because I seen all the guns drawn," she said. 

The family didn't know what was happening, and then the apartment below exploded.

"It was so many gunshots, a lot of gunshots, so I took the kids and was on the floor on top of them, and after the gunshots stopped we had to get up cause now the house is all black smoke," Johnson said.

Young boy haunted by incident

Amari said he saw Thomas as he and his family members ran out of the house.

"I ran down the steps and seen the man on the floor and blood over him," he said. "I had to walk over the blood, and we went to the corner and heard the window shatter, and I seen fire coming out of the house." 

Amari said he can hardly sleep from fear.

"The nighttime really scares me," he said. "My dreams are him waking up and coming to get me."

While the family is grateful to be alive, they are still living with the aftershocks.

The Red Cross is temporarily putting them up, but their home and belongings were lost in the fire after the explosion. 

"We can never go back there. It's destroyed," Johnson said.