BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A livery driver was fatally shot in a robbery by a fare he had just picked up off the street early Monday morning, sources said.
Naji Fawaz, 35, who friends said was a father from Yemen who had been driving for several years, was shot in the neck and torso while sitting in his livery cab in front of 396 Decatur St., near Patchen Avenue, about 12:21 a.m., NYPD officials said.
Fawaz, of Brownsville, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital at 1 a.m., police said.
"He was a very nice person. He would smile," said a friend of the driver, Hamden Mohamed, 41.
Investigators believe Fawaz had picked up the passenger or passengers who then robbed him, sources said.
Nobody had been arrested as of Monday morning and police did not provide a suspect description.
"We are saddened once again to see how easily a young man can lose his life in NYC," said the Federation of Taxi Drivers' Fernando Mateo.
"Working as a cab driver has always been the most dangerous job," he added.
