ST. LOUIS — “I reacted and fired back to save my life. I don’t think I should have lost my job,” said Joe Keith.
It started out as a routine ride around 8:30 Sunday night for the former Uber driver.
Keith, 37, said he picked up three men at North Kingshighway Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.
"I got to the Dominos where it tells me to pick them up," he said. But within moments the trip to north St. Louis took a heart-racing turn.
"They get in and it's like, 'How's it going guys?' and they're like, 'Oh we're having a good night.' And I thought that was weird. They looked to be 18 to 25 years old."
He said when he drove them a half-mile away to Euclid and Labadie, he became suspicious after one of the men asked to use his cellphone.
"He said he wanted to call his mom. I dialed the number for him and put it on speaker phone. He kept saying ‘don’t put it on speaker phone, don’t put it on speaker phone.’ When I turned to hand him the phone, I was met with a green light and I said, 'Oh, this is happening,'" Keith said.
Keith said the man pointed a gun right at his face and told him to get out of the car.
"As I started to exit, I reached down and grabbed my gun and he said 'What are you reaching for? What are you reaching for?' I hear 'pop pop' and I started firing back."
Bullets hit the car seats, doors and shattered two windows on his wife's Toyota Corolla.
A bullet grazed Keith on his chin.
"There was a hole in my T-shirt," he said. "I didn't even know it was there until I got to the police station."
Keith said he kneeled down between the driver's side doors as he and the rider kept firing at each other. When the gunfire finally ended, the three men ran off.
"Uber did call to make sure that I was OK. Their insurance rep also totaled my wife’s car. I really liked working there. I know they have a policy that prohibits drivers from carrying guns, but I was protecting myself and I don’t think I should have lost my job," he said.
Keith may have lost his job, but not his life. That's all that matters to the man, who was married just last month and a father of two with a baby on the way.
"I can't even think about leaving them behind. I just know I’m very lucky to still be here," he said.
While Keith lost his gig with Uber, he is a full-time heavy operator.
He told 5 On Your Side police were still looking for those three men.