Cab Driver Carjacked, Shot

A cab driver was carjacked and shot in the face early this morning in North Philadelphia.

According to a security guard who police say witnessed the shooting, the gunman was a bar patron who had been kicked out of a club around 5 a.m. in the 3900 block of Old York Road. He hailed a cab.

When the cabbie pulled over, the bar patron allegedly yanked the driver out of the town car and shot him twice in the face.

A security guard who saw the shooting pulled out his gun and shot at the suspect. The gunman jumped into the town car, took off and then ditched the car a few blocks away at 10th and Venango.

The cab driver, 46, was rushed to Temple University Hospital where he is in critical condition.

Police are searching for the gunman.

Back in June, another Philadelphia cab driver, William Carney III, was shot at point blank range by a man he picked up for a ride to Germantown.

"I heard the shot. I felt the impact," said Carney who tried to drive himself to the hospital.

In September, the Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania asked the City of Philadelphia to do more to protect drivers.

"Drivers are assaulted everyday for nothing," said the organization's Vice President at the time.

The organization asked the city to install surveillance cameras inside their vehicles as well as panic buttons that would be a direct link to 911. They also asked for signs to be placed inside their vehicles that warn drivers that it is a crime to assault taxi drivers.

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