ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis Uber driver says he feared for his life after getting into a shootout with a would-be passenger. One of those bullets flew into his car — narrowly missing him.
Joshua Barker has been driving for Uber for seven years. He said this has never happened before. He's sharing his story because he not only wants the bad guys caught, but he also wants other rideshare drivers to trust their gut when something doesn't seem right.
"I was super afraid for my life. I literally heard 'ting ting ting ting.' I heard 'poom poom,'” Barker recalled.
It was not the ride he was expecting when he went to pick up a passenger near Union Boulevard and Cabanne Avenue. It was around 2 a.m. last Monday.
"On the left, I saw no houses, no businesses and on the right, there was vacant homes with chain-link fence in front of it to keep people out, so it’s nothing there to be picking anybody up at," he recalled. "And there was a, look like a broke down Mercedes Benz with dark tinted window and the door was ajar slightly, which is so creepy with no one around or nothing."
He followed his instincts.
"On the Uber app, you can click a thing that says ‘cancel, not safe to pick up’ …Which I did, thinking that's the end of it."
While trying to escape, he ran into a dead end. When he turned around, he came back in contact with the suspicious car. That's when he says a young woman jumped out in front of his car.
“I say ‘what are you doing?’"
Then two young men appeared.
"All of a sudden, I start hearing 'boom boom boom, bang, bang bang bang' and I'm like ‘oh my god, I'm being shot at’."
He fired back and took off.
"This is a 9mm bullet hole,” he said, pointing at his car.
It traveled through a passenger seat, where there was another bullet hole.
"Literally a foot and a half and it would've killed me,” he said.
The disabled veteran is now counting his blessings he escaped unharmed.
"I am still shaken up. I don't know if or when I'll ever be able to drive for Uber or any other ride shares again,” Barker said.
An Uber spokesperson said in an email, “The reported details are terrifying, and we’re relieved the driver was unharmed. We’re in touch with the driver as we continue to look into this incident, and we’re standing by to assist law enforcement on their investigation.”
The company also pointed out it has a no-weapons policy during rides.
Barker, who has a concealed carry permit, said he didn’t feel safe without it.
"Almost every day, for sure every week, we see people shot and killed in St. Louis…Hundreds of different Uber and Lyft drivers have been carjacked. They've been shot and killed,” he said.