A 50-year-old livery cab driver was shot in the face by an uninvolved bystander on Friday morning in Brooklyn, shortly after his vehicle was involved in a minor collision. The incident occurred in Fort Greene, near the NYCHA's Whitman Houses, around 4 a.m. as the driver was picking up a fare.
According to police and sources, the cab driver had just collided with a white Sprinter van when an argument ensued between the two drivers. A pedestrian, who had no connection to the drivers or the dispute, then approached and fired a shot, striking the cabbie in the right cheek.
The victim was transported to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he is expected to survive. Authorities reported that the shooter had not been apprehended hours after the incident.
This event follows a recent pattern of violence on city streets. Weeks prior, on July 11, a rideshare driver was shot in the face during a robbery in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. The suspect in that case also remains at large, and the victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Just one day before the Fort Greene shooting, a man was attacked with a meat cleaver in College Point, Queens, during an apparent road rage incident. The victim was reportedly slashed multiple times and was listed in stable condition, with no arrests made in that case either.