Elderly man shoots NYC cabbie over fare before fleeing to retirement home: cops

An elderly man shot a taxi driver over a $40 fare in the Bronx and then calmly walked into a retirement home as the injured driver lay on the street. The victim, Alusine Barrie, a 27-year-old immigrant from Guinea who supports his family back home, was shot in the stomach by Joseph Meeks, 76, while still seated in his yellow cab outside Meeks’ senior living facility near West 169 Street in Highbridge around 4:30 p.m. on Monday.

Barrie managed to open the car door and fall out onto the street, where he was attended to by first responders and his mother. Despite being in stable condition at Lincoln Hospital, he still required assistance to breathe.

After being shot, Barrie called his mother for help and even managed to take photos of Meeks standing over him. The altercation began when Meeks allegedly couldn’t pay the $40 fare after being picked up in Harlem. He attempted to use four different credit cards, all of which were declined.

Meeks eventually returned home after the shooting but was arrested by police a few hours later. He is now facing an attempted murder charge.

Meeks has a history of prior arrests, including charges of menacing and possession of a weapon in April 2024, as well as charges of larceny and possession of stolen property in June of the same year.

Barrie, who has been in the country for nine years, sends money back to his family in Africa and has been working for the same company since 2023. His mother, brother, and sister all reside in New York.

David Do, commissioner of the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, condemned the violence and expressed support for Barrie. Fernando Mateo, of the New York State Federal of Taxi Drivers, called for better crime prevention measures and emphasized the need to prioritize the safety of victims over offenders.

The incident has sparked outrage and calls for increased protection for New Yorkers. Mateo questioned why a senior citizen like Meeks would resort to such violence and urged lawmakers to focus on safeguarding the community. The need for a safer environment for all residents of the city was emphasized, with a plea for a more victim-centric approach to addressing crime. The world of technology is constantly evolving, with new advancements being made every day. One of the most exciting developments in recent years has been the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). AI is a branch of computer science that aims to create machines that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation.

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