March 28, 2024
Driver John Williams picked up a passenger in one of the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago.
Gun shots were fired towards an Uber driver’s vehicle after he picked up a woman in Chicago.
March 17 footage from the driver’s dash cam, via Storyful, revealed an unnamed woman calmly getting into the backseat of the Uber, but immediately after closing the door, she can be heard demanding driver John Williams to, “Go, go go! He finna shoot at the car,” as she ducked down into her seat.
Confused by the woman’s demand, Williams briefly turned around to look at the passenger that he picked up in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. “Shoot at the car?” he questioned, as he proceeded to accelerate from two miles per hour, to nine, to 20, while the woman confirmed, “Yeah, go.”
“What the…?” Williams asked as two gun shots were fired. Phone in hand and hitting over 35 mph, he asked “What is that?” The woman, still ducking in her seat, just yelled, “Go!” The driver having to ask again what was going on, the woman responded, “He just shot at the car.” Williams asked the woman what the man’s reason was for shooting.
The Uber driver multi-tasked as he appeared to have his body positioned to dodge any bullets and pay attention to the road at the same time. Williams told Storyful that he was “startled and alarmed.”
What seemed to be a bumpy Sunday night ride, soon slowed down after the woman told Williams she was contacting police and they proceeded to pull over. “Feeling increasingly uneasy and fearing for our safety, I made the difficult decision to inform [the passenger] that I couldn’t wait for the police any longer,” Williams told Storyful.
He and the passenger decided to switch the destination to a home address of the one of the woman’s relatives. According to Williams, this would reduce the risk of the woman being followed by the shooter. “Ensuring her safety became my top priority,” Williams said.
The Uber driver continued his shift after he dropped the woman off.
According to The Chicago Sun-Times, West Garfield Park is one of the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago. The outlet reported in 2023 that the neighborhood was responsible for nearly 1,000 shootings over the past five years, with over 1,500 murder victims over the last decade, and two-thirds of the victims younger than 30 years old.
Anti-violence groups like The MAAFA Redemption Project are working to find active shooters. The program offers job training, psychotherapy, and counseling.
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