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Woman thanks teen who rescued her dog from burning vehicle

HAVERHILL, Mass. — A grateful dog owner took time on Wednesday to visit the brave teenager who rescued her dog from a burning vehicle.

Jennifer Beruee took her Bernese Mountain Dog, Boomer, to the home of 17-year-old Alex Gabriel, who saved Boomer's life a day earlier, so they could both thank him in person.

"You are my hero!" Jennifer said, hugging Alex during their reunion.

"If I over-hugged you I’m sorry, I was very thankful!" she said.

She said she was in Market Basket for less than five minutes on Tuesday before she was told her car was smoking in the parking lot. Her biggest concern was Boomer, who was in the back seat.

"I was like hysterical, this all happened like minutes.," Jennifer said. "Boomer is like everything to us, to our family so that would be devastating."

Luckily, Alex was nearby, also grocery shopping at the same Market Basket. His adrenaline kicked in when he saw a dog trapped inside.

Flames started shooting right into the front seats. Alex used his elbow to smash through the back seat window, pulling the frightened dog to safety.

"I was trying to keep smoke out of my eyes and just grabbed the dog by the scruff and just kind of lifted it out," he said shortly after the rescue.

Bystanders later told Jennifer that Alex rescued her beloved dog.

"Amazing, his parents should be so proud of him," she said.

Wednesday night, Alex was able to reunite with Boomer.

"When it first happened I didn't really get a glimpse of him, my brain was every which direction, going 100 miles an hour, so to see him right now was wonderful," he said during the reunion.

And Jennifer was able to thank her hero once again.

"Hopefully he can get a nice Christmas gift or help you out after graduation," she said, after handing him a token of her appreciation.

And with the monetary thank you came an even more precious gift.

"Yeah, they gave me a photo of Boomer, probably going to be my lock screen on my phone for a couple weeks, trust me on that," Alex said.

A courageous move for a teenager who just wanted to do the right thing.

"I’m happy that I witnessed it and I was able to do something about it," Alex said.