Identical Twin Sisters Go Viral for Speaking in Sync While Sharing Their Mother's Scary Carjacking Experience

Australian identical twins Bridgette Powers and Paula Powers are going viral after a carjacking — but not for the exact reasons one would expect.

The Powers twins, 50, spoke with 7News Queensland about how their mother was caught in an armed carjacking in Queensland, Australia, on Monday, April 21. 

During their on-screen interview, they spoke in sync, finished one another’s sentences and answered the interviewer’s questions with the same words. 

“And one guy, he was up there with our mum… he goes, run, he’s got a gun,” one sister recalled while the other repeated the same words and inflection at the same time. “And our heart started to pound. And I said, ‘Oh, mum, where’s mum?’ And poor mum was stuck up there.”

The twins, who are founders of Twinnies Pelican and Seabird Rescue, told the 7News journalist that their mother was able to remain calm despite the armed suspect near her.

“But apparently our brave mum, she goes, ‘Are you alright?’ Because he had blood all over his face. And he goes: ‘I’ll shoot you.’ She goes: ‘Hey, I’m here to help.’ ”

“Mum distracted him to make him look the other way, and he looked the other way, and mum ran into the bush behind the fence. The guy goes, ‘I’ll find you and I’ll shoot you.’ ”

The Powers twins said in unison that they were thinking to themselves, “ ‘ I hope he doesn’t fire.’ ” The twins and their mother all walked away safely.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.          

Several people who might be unfamiliar with the environmentalist twins have commented on the now-viral video, remarking on their mirroring speech patterns and hand gestures. However, the pair is well-known in Queensland for running their own animal rescue organization. They were also the subject of a 2016 Good Morning Britain segment, in which Piers Morgan laughed at their synchronized answers.

The pair began their animal rescue work after meeting Steve Irwin, with whom they forged a bond before he died in 2006.

“Our brains must think alike at the same time,” they told the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 2021, and they acknowledged it’s “weird.” 

“We do annoy a lot of people,” they said. Despite their efforts to change, “it doesn’t feel right” to do so.

“We just love one another to pieces,” they told ABC in 2021. “We never get sick of one another.”