An Alabama nursing student who was kidnapped and locked in the trunk of her own car told TODAY how she used the light on her insulin pump to find its latch before jumping to safety.

Brittany Diggs, 25, was kidnapped at gunpoint Tuesday and forced to drive around Birmingham. She said the gunman threatened to kill her and tried to withdraw cash from her bank accounts with her ATM card.

Eventually, the man locked her in the trunk.

In an exclusive interview with TODAY, Diggs said: "The whole time he's driving, he's, like, just, he's yelling at me from the front seat, 'You're lying. I know you have something. Give me your money.'"

The gunman and her Nissan Altima were recorded on surveillance video at a gas station — and the camera was rolling when Diggs flung the trunk open from inside and "flopped out," as she put it.

"I just got the bright idea to use my insulin pump light, which is not a bright light, but it was bright enough to see," Diggs said. "So I had to put it right on top of it to look and see for the latch."

As the gunman tried to get yet more cash from the gas station's ATM, "I'm holding the latch like this, waiting for him to get back in the car. He gets in [and] he's yelling ... and I feel the car reversing, and he's pulling out pretty fast, so I'm, like, 'Oh shoot — I better get out of here.'"

Birmingham police confirmed Diggs' account of the escape. So did Yosef Al Sabah: owner of the gas station, who told NBC affiliate WVTM: "As he was leaving, I saw the trunk popped up and a woman jumped out of the trunk and came inside the store. I let her inside a safe place and locked the door and called the police."

The culprit remains at large, and Diggs — who fears for her safety — said she's getting out of town.

"He had my phone, keys, car, everything. Gone. Like, I literally just had a jacket," Diggs said.

She's relocating because "I don't feel safe there," she said.

"Brittany jumped with nothing to lose but also nothing to come back to," a friend said on a GoFundMe page set up to raise money to help Diggs find a new home. "This stranger took everything from her."

RELATED: High-profile kidnapping cases through the years

7 PHOTOS High-profile kidnapping cases through the years See Gallery High-profile kidnapping cases through the years Elizabeth Smart Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002 when she was 14. She was found nine months later after she was recognized while out in public with her captors. Brian David Mitchell was convicted of kidnapping and raping Smart and was sentenced to life in prison in 2011. Mitchell's estranged wife, Wanda Barzee, admitted to her role in the kidnapping and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. (Photo by Douglas C. Pizac-Pool/Getty Images)

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Jaycee Lee Dugard



Phillip and Nancy Garrido abducted Jaycee Lee Dugard in 1991 near Lake Tahoe when she was 11 and held her captive for 18 years. Dugard was forced to live in tents and sheds behind Garrido's home in California. She was found in 2009 after Garrido brought her to his parole meeting and investigators became suspicious. Phillip Garrido reportedly raped her for years and fathered two children with her. Phillip was sentenced to 431 years to life in prison and his wife was sentenced to 36 years to life. Nancy Garrido

(Photo by El Dorado County Sheriff via Getty Images)

Jaycee Lee Dugard

(Photo by Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Phillip Garrido

(Photo by El Dorado County Sheriff via Getty Images) Charles Lindbergh, Jr. Charles Lindbergh Jr., the son of the American aviator, was kidnapped from his home in March 1932. A ladder was used to climb up to the baby's bedroom and a ransom note was left behind. The infant's body was later discovered near the Lindbergh's mansion in New Jersey. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted of murder and was later executed by electric chair. Charles Lindbergh Jr.

(Photo by BIPS/Getty Images) Bruno Richard Hauptmann

(Bettmann via Getty Images) Caylee Anthony



3-year-old Caylee Anthony was last seen alive on June 16, 2008. She wasn't reported missing until a month later when her mother, Casey Anthony, told investigators that a babysitter kidnapped her. The young girl's remains were found in a wooded-area in December 2008. Casey Anthony stood trial for her daughter's murder but was acquitted. Caylee Anthony

(Photo by Orlando Sentinel/Orlando Sentinel/MCT via Getty Images)



Casey Anthony

(Photo by Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/MCT via Getty Images) Natascha Kampusch Natascha Kampusch vanished when she was 10-years-old in 1998 while walking to school. The woman broke free on August 23, 2006, after living for eight years in a small basement area under a garage next to the suspected kidnappers house in Strasshof, 15 miles outside of the capital Vienna. The suspect, Wolfgang Priklopil committed suicide after Kampusch managed to escape. (REUTERS/HO/Police) Carlina White Carlina White, seen here as a baby and adult, was kidnapped from Harlem Hospital in 1987. As she grew up she began to question if the woman who was raising her was actually her mother. After doing some research she discovered a picture of herself when she was an infant on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website and was eventually reunited with her family 23 years later. The woman who abducted her, Ann Pettway, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. (Photo by NY Daily News via Getty Images)

Relisha Rudd



8-year-old Relisha Rudd disappeared on March 1, 2014. She was last seen spending time with the janitor of the homeless shelter where she stayed with her mother. That man, Kahlil Tatum later killed himself but Relisha has never been found. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

More from :

Kidnap Victim’s Escape From Car’s Trunk Caught on Video

Peru Floods: Woman Climbs Out of Rushing Floodwaters to Safety

Driver Arrested Near White House Grounds Claimed to Have a Bomb: Police