Ganiou Gandonou was found shortly after 9 p.m. seated inside a black Toyota Camry with stab wounds to his neck and torso, police said. Police are investigating whether Gandonou’s death began as a robbery.
Gandonou drove for Uber and had received his for-hire vehicle license in January 2017, according to the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.
He left home around 7 p.m. to work a shift picking up passengers and he never came home, his wife said in an interview with News 12. He had a 2-year-old son.
“My husband doesn’t deserve this,” she said. “I don’t know how my life’s going to be without him.”
Driving a taxi or for-hire vehicle has long been a dangerous job. In the early 1990s, dozens of livery drivers were killed on the job in a single year and many more were assaulted or robbed.
An Uber spokesman, Grant Klinzman, called Gandonou’s death “a horribly tragic incident,” adding, “our hearts go out to the grieving family.”
“We stand ready to work with law enforcement to assist their investigation in any way possible,” Klinzman said in a statement.
On Sunday, a driver group offered a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the killing.
“We call on anyone who may have witnessed the attack to contact the police so that the culprit may be brought to justice,” the Independent Drivers Guild said in a statement.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.