"It was like I didn't do nothing. But I did," Modesto Cruz said.

Cruz said Monday evening that he did everything he could think of to help Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz when the 15-year-old ran into his bodega this past June.

"First, try to hide the kid under the counter. Second, I tried to hold the little door he got access to inside the counter, we tried to hold it," Cruz said.

• Father of Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz: Bodega owner could have done more to help

He says surveillance video of the moments before the attack was misread. In one portion of the video, he says he's actually struggling to keep the suspects away from Guzman-Feliz but they got to him anyway and stabbed him to death.

Cruz says he is now haunted by accusations that he didn't do enough.

Chung: People say, 'Why didn't you take him to the basement? Why didn't you do this?'

Cruz: It wasn't no time. Everything running real fast, second by second.

"He tried to hide him, he tried to help him," said Cruz's attorney Fred Lichtmacher. "When he comes back in and he's bleeding, he points to the hospital and he turns around and grabs his phone and he starts dialing 911."

Lichtmacher says his client is an honest man who's been made into a scapegoat. "Out of this incident, there are certain community leaders, politicians made statements that were incredibly bogus and not backed by any facts," Lichtmacher said.

• Bronx street to be renamed for 15-year-old fatally stabbed outside bodega

Cruz says he was destroyed that night when he learned Guzman-Feliz died.

"I remembered I just took a seat on the corner in the store in the back and I started to cry," Cruz said. "We just thought it was a regular fight, like always happening on the corner."

Traumatized by the attack, he no longer owns the bodega, turning it over to new management. "I don't feel like I can work right now," Cruz said.

And he's not. Cruz says he currently doesn't have a job, but his lawyer says he's interviewing for positions.

Playing it back in his mind, he says he doesn't know what else he could have done to help.

"They got to put the responsibility for the people who did this," Cruz said.

Cruz says, obviously, no one has lost more than the family of Guzman-Feliz. He says his heart goes out to the teenager's parents and loved ones.

As for why he sold the store, Cruz said he didn't felt like the community wanted him anymore, so he doesn't want to be there.