A U.S. Marine combat veteran and father driving Uber was shot and killed by a rider Friday morning.
Aaron Orozco, 38, got into a "physical altercation" with two of his Uber riders at a 7-Eleven in Lynwood, California, when he was shot by one of the riders, according to L.A. police. The criminal fled the scene in Orozco's Honda Accord, which was ditched not far away from the scene, according to police.
Orozco died from a gunshot wound to the chest and the suspects remain at large as of Sunday morning, L.A.'s Fox-11 reported.
"It just seems like I'm in a nightmare," Orozco's wife Sandra Medina told Fox-11. "It doesn't seem real to me.
"I haven't even told my kids yet, they still think dad is going to come through the door."
Orozco was driving Uber at night so he could watch his kids during the day while his wife worked as a nurse.
The couple was married for 10 years and a 9-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter are now fatherless.
"Our hearts are with Mr. Orozco Figueroa's family as they cope with this unfathomable tragedy, and we have reached out to offer our condolences," Uber wrote in a statement. "We banned the rider's account and are working with police on their investigation."
Orozco served in the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton from 2001-2005, doing three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I just really hope that they find [the suspects] because," Medina told ABC-7, "they created this chaos in my life, in my family's life.
"And now," she continued, "I don't have my husband with me and it's just changed my life around, so I really hope that they do catch them,” Medina told ABC7.
Car theft has been rising in Democrat-run California, spiking 61.5% since before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 LAPD data, the New York Post reported.
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