SAVANNAH, Ga – A fun night out with friends ended down this trash lane for Heather and her friend John. An ending to an evening they had never expected.
“We got in just kind of like I would on autopilot anytime I only live three streets from here but again I was taking it home for the safety perspective because it was late at night,” says Heather.
That ride she assumed would be safe took a terrifying turn when the driver passed her apartment.
“Then careened into an ally pulled a gun out directly to my friends face and I screamed and jumped out,” she says.
In a panic, John and Heather got out of the car, the gunman following them holding them up here along the East Gordon Street Lane a neighbor hearing all of this commotion came outside and said he was going to call police. The gunman fled. John and Heather took their story to social media telling friends about what happened and eerily they found that some of their very own friends had similar situations happen to them.
Metro police responded in Heather and John’s case, Richard Lane believes he was lucky after what happened to him.
“The car pulled up and the guys asked ‘Are you looking for your Uber?’ and I said ‘Yes.’ And I jumped in and he then asked me where I was going and that was a little bit unusual because normally they know where you’re going,” Lane says.
Lane adds that if he had not noticed that fact and acted quickly he doesn’t know where that ride could have ended.
“We were at a red light like a block from where I got in and I figured he was not actually my driver so I got out and walked the black, the block back to where I was supposed to meet the Uber and that’s when my legitimate Uber showed up.”
All three still plan to use the ride share service, but have taken a hard lesson with them about being alert at night.
“We all need to be very careful to make sure that we’re getting into the right car, if you’re getting into the right car you’ve got the information needed to identify who the driver is,” John says.
“I think as long as people know that there could be illegitimate drivers out there again just make sure that you’re getting into the correct car and I think you’re absolutely fine it’s just not something you might have thought to even worry about but it is,” says Lane.
The gunman got away with Heather’s phone because she left it in the car. Metro police are still investigating trying to track down a potential suspect vehicle the neighbor as well as John and Heather reported to be a silver sedan.
