Uber Driver Shoots, Kills Passenger After Early Morning Altercation

An Uber driver shot and killed a passenger in their car in the early hours of Friday morning, according to police in Denver, Colorado. Police have not released specifics on the incident, but one man is dead and the other is cooperating with police.

Not long before 3 a.m. Friday, there was an altercation in the Uber car as it was traveling on Interstate 25 in Denver, according to KMGH-7, Denver’s ABC affiliate. Both the driver and the passenger were unidentified in early reports, but the passenger was specified as an adult male.

The car swerved off the road and hit an on-ramp as a result of the incident, according to KDVR-2. The driver reportedly fired multiple gunshots at the passenger before calling 911 to report the shooting to police. Emergency responders tried performing CPR before taking the victim to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police were not able to immediately confirm if the victim was a paying Uber passenger or just someone getting a ride from the driver. After reporting the shooting to Denver police, the driver went to the station to be interviewed by authorities.

Uber has reportedly worked with Denver police on the case, according to KDVR.

Company policy explicitly bars Uber drivers from carrying firearms while carrying passengers in their cars. However, as Gawker pointed out in 2016, the rule is seemingly difficult to enforce, given the decentralized, employee-driven business model that Uber has used since its inception.

The Denver shooting came just weeks after a CNN investigation revealed more than 100 accusations of sexual assault or harassment against Uber drivers in the past four years. After CNN published its report, Uber agreed to start publishing statistics on crimes committed by its drivers.