Livery Cab Driver Fatally Stabbed With Umbrella In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The search continued Friday for two people wanted in connection with the gruesome stabbing death of a livery cab driver in Brooklyn.
Uro Ama Orji, 54, was stabbed in the eye with an umbrella in Brownsville on Thursday, police said.
After he was wounded, detectives said the cab jumped the curb and crashed into two parked sport-utility vehicles at Lott Avenue and Boyland Street at about 5:30 p.m., CBS 2 reported.
Police: Livery Cab Driver Stabbed To Death With Umbrella In Brooklyn
Orji, a Nigerian immigrant living in Queens, was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Investigators said they are looking for a man and woman -- who were passengers in the cab -- seen running from the scene, CBS 2 reported.
A video showed the man getting out of the cab, opening the front door of the vehicle and stabbing Orji with an umbrella, 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reported.
"It's clearly on that video. You have a female and male, and the male runs -- the young lady walking away, perhaps guilt got the best of her," community advisor Tony Herbert told CBS 2's John Slattery.
A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.
The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers is offering a $3,000 reward; the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care is offering another $2,000.
"This is a total outrage. This is just a guy just trying to make a buck to probably feed himself and his family, only to have his life taken for less than $10 or maybe $20, which is close to the average fare one would pay for a local ride inside Brooklyn," Herbert said.
"It's a very dangerous job, a very dangerous business," said Fernando Mateo, president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers.
Community activists are asking a UPS driver who may have witnessed the incident to come forward, D'Auria reported.
Orji was the father of five children and had come from Nigeria 10 years ago to start a better life for his family. His children, who range in age from 13 to 22, arrived from Nigeria in December.
"It's still early, fresh. They are still in the denial stage,"said Orji's brother, Agwu Ana Agwu.
His sister-in-law, Chinedum Agwu, said he was a good father who was just trying to make ends meet.
"He was a very dedicated, loving father," she said. "An innocent man who was just working hard to make sure his kids eat. Everything he wanted to do was take care of his children. It's horrible. How do you do something like that? How do you wake up and have in your mind to go out and hurt somebody?"
When asked about the dangers of the job, Chinedum Agwu told Slattery, "He always wanted to stop doing it and do something else."
She said she hopes the killer surrenders.
"There will be no peace, no matter where they hide," she said.
Orji was supposed to go to Agwu's house to celebrate Father's Day on Sunday. Now the family is getting ready to send his body back to Nigeria.
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