Indian American Uber Driver Dies After Hit by a Stray Bullet During Shootout in New York City

A young Indian American Uber driver has died three days after he was hit by a stray bullet during a shootout in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Kuldip Singh, 21, succumbed to his wounds at Mount Sinai Morningside hospital on Sept. 7, from gunshot wounds on his head, following an altercation between his passenger and a teenager. Singh was in his second month on the job, The New York Post reported.

News reports, citing police, note that the suspect, a 15-year-old boy, fired the shot that struck Singh. The teenager, whose name has not been released, had gotten into a dispute with a passenger in the back seat of Singh’s car and opened the rear door of the vehicle, The New York Post reported. When he did, the unknown passenger, who is still being sought by police, opened fire and struck the teenager, who returned fire and inadvertently hit Singh in the head.

The wounded teen allegedly had drugs on him when he was taken into custody, but no charges have yet been filed in the case, The Post reported. The teen was hit in the abdomen and the left thigh in the exchange of gunfire. He is being held at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where he is in stable condition.

Meanwhile, Kuldip Singh’s father, Bir Bahadur Singh, told The New York Daily News that he wants “no mercy” for his boy’s alleged teen killer. “He hurt my son,” he said. “He should be dead too.”He told the Daily News that when he heard of his son’s shooting, he was alone at home, as his wife was in Ohio. “What do you expect? My whole world came crashing down on me.”

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Singh told the Daily News that he moved to Queens, New York, in 2007. Once he had earned “enough,” Singh told the Daily News that his wife and son from India joined him in 2018. A spokeswoman for Uber told The Post on Sept. 8 that the ride-sharing company had reached out to both Singh’s family and the passengers.

“Our hearts are with Mr. Singh, his passenger and their loved ones after this horrific and senseless act of violence,” the company said in a statement, the Post reported.