New York Police Nab Suspected Killer of Nigerian Cab Driver

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One week after the savage attack on a Nigerian-born cab driver in New York, the police in New York  Wednesday arrested a suspect in connection with the killing of the driver in the Brownsville area of Brooklyn in downtown New York.

Uro Ama Orji, 54, from Ebonyi State, was stabbed in the eye with an umbrella on June 13 by one of the two passengers he was carrying. The umbrella was said to have pierced through his eye into his brain causing him to immediately collapse. The suspect was seen running from the scene of the incident through a security camera.

The late Orji was taken to the Brookdale Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. The motive of the attack was not known, as there were no indications whether the passenger had a disagreement, perhaps over the fare, with Orji. In the weeks ahead, investigations are sure to throw more light on the incident. 

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the suspect, named Shamel Allen, 28, of Brooklyn, was charged for manslaughter and possession of a weapon.
He was accused of stabbing the deceased inside a cab in Brownsville on June 13.

Orji’s sister in-law, Mrs. Chinedum Agwu, described the deceased as “a hard-working Nigerian” who had been driving cab since he moved to Brooklyn 10 years ago.

A week earlier, another Nigerian, Solomon James Okoro, also a cab driver, was shot dead by people believed to be armed robbers in Washington DC.