Uber driver shoots at passengers who questioned his route

We’ve all been there. A big Saturday night on the booze comes to an end in the early hours and we face the sobering reality of the cab ride home. It’s not unheard of for there to be the odd cross word with the poor driver.

But a developing story in New Orleans takes the cake.

Police say that they arrested an Uber driver after he allegedly shot at two customers who had argued with him for taking them in the wrong direction.

The New Orleans Police Department says 53-year-old Ahmad Ahmad faces an aggravated assault with a firearm charge following the shooting in the early hours of Sunday, Feb 16, CNN reported.

Ahmad picked up the two customers from a downtown New Orleans bar just after midnight and had been booked to take them to a location in the nearby city of Kenner.

However, instead of heading towards Kenner, Ahmad began driving his passengers across the Mississippi River into Jefferson Parish. The two riders told him that he was driving in the wrong direction, and an argument started, police said.

Authorities say that the car being driven by Ahmad stopped and the two passengers got out. It is not clear whether they demanded to exit or whether the driver threw them out.

But what is established is the customers called the police and then got on their phones to order another Uber to pick them up.

According to police, Ahmad just wasn’t able to walk away from the situation. When the other Uber driver arrived and the passengers got inside, Ahmad allegedly opened the passenger side door and removed the keys from the ignition.

One of the passengers, by now sitting in the second car, is said to have pushed Ahmad. An enraged Ahmad then went back to his car, pulled out a gun and started shooting at the customers, New Orleans police said.

Ahmad drove away after firing his gun but was later arrested after, remarkably, he returned to the scene of the crime.

In addition to the aggravated assault charge, the wayward cabbie also faces theft and illegal use of weapons charges.