Man carjacks limo full of bridemaids en route to church

Five bridesmaids ejected on Saturday from their limousine by a carjacker outside a Dorchester church made it down the aisle on time without breathing a word about the wedding crasher to the blushing bride until after she tied the knot. The bridesmaids fled the limo in flowing blue gowns, fuchsia bouquets still intact, after the thief made his escape from a house break-in by smashing the limo’s passenger-side window with a hammer outside Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta Church, witnesses said. “It’s a fine art to hide anything bad from the bride,”

Leslie Lakhia, one of the 250 guests, said after the happy couple, Jillian Sherlock and Nikhil Pereira, emerged from the ceremony, blissfully unaware of the ordeal. “People didn’t want to create a bad vibe.” It all started shortly after 1:30 p.m. when a man who had just broken into a nearby home was chased down Columbia Road, police and witnesses said. The man first tried to get into a mail truck parked outside the church and, finding it locked, moved on to the limo, witnesses said. “He started fighting with the driver, and the girls got out and ran,” said Karl Kammann, a Buckingham Bus driver who had just dropped off 48 guests at the church. “It was chaos. Right out from under the wedding party! What a way to get married.”



Heading in the opposite direction on Columbia Road was Gerald Whelan, who was sitting in traffic when he spotted the man get into the limo. “I saw the driver’s side open, and the driver struggling, half in and half out,” said Whelan, 61. “He started yelling, ‘Help me! Somebody help me!’” The driver managed to get out, unharmed, and the limo disappeared down Columbia Road, only to be abandoned shortly afterward on West Fifth Street in South Boston as police searched for the wedding bandit.

Inside the church, meanwhile, the Rev. Jack Ahern heard someone say there was a fender-bender and poked his head outside to make sure no one was hurt. “I went outside, and there were five cop cars,” said Ahern, who serves as pastor to Blessed Mother Teresa and two other parishes. “And this is the safest of my three parishes!” As police cordoned off the front of the church with crime scene tape, inside, the ceremony went on as planned, and another limo was dispatched to take the wedding party to the reception. “The bridesmaids acted like nothing happened,” Ahern said. “Everyone was shocked but said, ‘At least we’ll have a good story to tell.’”

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