Uber Removes Driver Who Allegedly Shot Passenger From App

An altercation Friday morning inside an Uber vehicle in Denver ended with the passenger being shot and killed and the Uber driver being arrested and barred from the ride-sharing service.

Initial reports of the shooting did not name the driver or the passenger, nor were police sure it occurred during a paid Uber trip. Denver police have since identified the driver as 29-year-old Michael Andre Hancock and the victim as 45-year-old Hyun Kim, according to Fox affiliate KDVR. It has since been confirmed that the shooting occurred during a paid trip.

The Denver Police Department tweeted Hancock’s mugshot after his arrest.

Shortly before 3 a.m. Friday, Hancock was driving Kim on Interstate 25 when the car swerved off the road and collided with the wall of an on-ramp. A witness called 911 and saw Kim deceased in the passenger seat of Hancock’s Nissan.

Hancock identified himself to the 911 dispatcher, claiming Kim attacked him during the trip. According to Hancock, he shot Kim in self-defense. An autopsy ruled Kim’s death a homicide by gunshot wound. Hancock was taken away in handcuffs, with police taking a semiautomatic pistol from him, according to KDVR.

When police arrived at the scene, Hancock had difficulty breathing, according to the Associated Press. After his arrest, Hancock was removed as an Uber driver. The ride-sharing company said he had been with Uber for three years.

Hancock reportedly lives in the Denver suburb of Aurora with a wife and two children. When he is not an Uber driver, he counsels at a home for troubled boys and goes to college classes, his father told KDVR-2. Aside from traffic tickets, he has no criminal record in Colorado.

Uber company policy expressly forbids drivers from carrying firearms in their vehicles, even in Colorado, where drivers are allowed to have guns in cars. Hancock had a permit for the weapon allegedly used in the shooting. Colorado’s “Make My Day” law permitting the use of firearms in self-defense only applies to incidents inside homes.