PROSPECT HEIGHTS, NY – A driver working for a rideshare service sustained critical injuries on Thursday following an apparent shooting in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood. The victim was discovered in the driver’s seat of a black Mercedes Benz SUV on Lincoln Place around 10 p.m., shot in the head.
The 52-year-old man was swiftly taken to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he remains in critical condition. Reports from witnesses indicate that two men in hoodies were seen fleeing the scene on foot, leaving the victim in a dire state inside the vehicle.
Residents in the area of the incident reported hearing gunfire, initially mistaking it for fireworks. Lizzie, a local, shared her chilling account, describing an apartment scene filled with panic and a story of a serious outside incident involving a ‘taxi driver’ gushing blood from the mouth. Matthew Hamilton-Roux, another resident, recalled hearing a couple of loud pops and thought they were fireworks.
In the ensuing confusion, authorities located and secured a firearm at the site of the incident, but it remains unclear as to whom the weapon belongs.
The incident has attracted the attention of New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, with Commissioner David Do expressing the organization’s commitment to supporting the NYPD’s investigation. He has called on anyone with useful information about the incident to contact the police, while expressing solidarity with the wounded driver and his family. The investigation is still ongoing with no arrests made yet.