Loading ...Muslim cab driver shot on Thanksgiving by rifle-wielding Islamophobe ranting about ISIS
A 38-year-old Moroccan-American taxi driver spent his Thanksgiving in the hospital. An Islamophobic customer who had been ranting about ISIS shot him in the back with a rifle.
When the driver picked up a client near a casino on early Thanksgiving morning, it seemed just like any other ride. When he started driving, however, the customer began asking about his background.
“He started the conversation and began to ask questions like, ‘You seem to be like a Pakistani guy. Are you from Pakistan?’” the driver, from his hospital bed, told reporters from the local newspaper the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “And I said, ‘No, I’m from Morocco. But I’m an American guy.’”
The customer then began to talk about ISIS and its crimes. The driver made it clear that he opposes ISIS, recounting, “I told him ‘Actually, I’m against ISIS. I don’t like them.’ I even told him that they are killing innocent people.”
Then, the driver recalled, “I noticed that he changed his tone and he began to satirize Muhammad, my prophet, and began to shift to his personal life. He mentioned that he has two kids and was in prison for some time.”
When they arrived to the client’s destination, the man asked the driver to wait so he could go into the house to grab his wallet. A few minutes later, the Islamophobic man came out with a rifle, and moved toward the taxi.
“I noticed him coming toward me,” the driver told the Post-Gazette. “I didn’t hesitate. I [made] a fast decision to leave and drove my taxi away because I felt he was going to do something. There is danger. He would shoot me or something. I felt like he had the intention to kill me.”
As the driver sped away, the Islamophobic man shot toward his car. One of the bullets went through the back window, shattering the glass and hitting the driver in the back.
When Post-Gazette reporters spoke to the Moroccan-American man at the hospital, the bullet was still lodged between his shoulder blades.
The driver spoke on the condition of anonymity, as he fears for his safety.
Local police and the FBI are investigating the shooting. There have been no arrests. The driver’s taxi is equipped with a video recorder, and there is allegedly video that could confirm the identity of the shooter.
Greg Heeb, a spokesperson for the Pittsburgh branch of the FBI, told the Post-Gazette, “All I can really say is that we evaluate all crimes that appear to be racially motivated.”
Source: www.salon.com