CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Police said a man outside a west Charlotte apartment complex was held at gunpoint and kidnapped by four men early Monday morning.

The carjackers' joyride ended on the shoulder of Interstate 77 near I-485. But for more than an hour they held Emmanuel Hamilton hostage.

"They pointed a gun to my head and they asked me where the car keys were at. So I didn't have any choice but to give them the car keys and ride with them," he said.

The car wasn't even Hamilton's vehicle. It belonged to a friend, whose townhouse he was visiting off Beatties Ford Road.

But Hamilton quickly found himself being driving down Southwest Boulevard and across town. Suddenly, in the middle of I-77, the kidnappers forced him out of the car.

When Hamilton got out of the car, he said the kidnappers shot at him twice as he ran away.

By morning rush hour, the kidnappers' joy ride ended when they crashed the stolen car through two highway signs. They left the car battered.

Police found the men's clothing in the woods and used a dog to trace their escape for more than a mile before the trail ended.

The sister of the owner of the stolen vehicle, Jojo Powell, said, "We just want to find out who did it. That's all -- the motive behind it."

Police said the carjackers may simply have wanted a vehicle to drive.

For Hamilton, who thought he might be killed, there's nothing simple about it.

"I just don't want nothing like this happening to me again because this is my first time something happening to me like that," he said.

At one point, police took one man into custody, thinking it may have been one of the kidnappers, but then released him.

They have no description to work with other than that the suspects are four black men.

The car owner said he wasn't able to get to work on Monday because of the incident.