Police are looking for an Uber passenger who fired a shot into the air following a dispute with a driver for the ride-sharing service.
No one was injured in the shooting, which occurred Friday morning at a Chevron at Ansley Mall, Atlanta police said.
Though he wasn’t the person who initially requested the ride, the passenger was picked up at a location in Lawrenceville, Atlanta police Officer Stephanie Brown said. Police did not release who requested the ride.
The passenger asked the driver to drop him off at the gas station at the corner of Monroe Drive and Piedmont Avenue so he could purchase cigarettes, Channel 2 Action News reported. He went inside the gas station, bought the cigarettes and then asked the driver to take him to another location.
When the driver refused, the passenger became agitated, reached into his backpack, grabbed his gun and fired in the air, Brown said.
“He said, ‘(Expletive), I’m going to shoot you if you leave me, I'll shoot you,’” driver Thoman Okua told Channel 2. “So I got my gun and I load my gun myself.”
Okua told Channel 2 he has been working for Uber for four months. He recently retired and decided to drive for extra money and purchased a gun for protection, Channel 2 reported.
Okua did not return fire.
“I'm not going to jeopardize my life for a stupid man like this, so I just sped away,” he said.
The suspect was later seen at a Panera Bread ordering lunch but left when he saw police, Channel 2 reported.
Atlanta police described him as between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11 and wearing black skinny jeans and an army fatigue jacket. He had locks pulled into a ponytail and was carrying a black backpack.
“At this time, officers are attempting to identify the suspect and locate him,” Atlanta police Sgt. John Chafee said in an emailed statement.
So far, police have recovered one shell casing from the scene.
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