Taxi driver found shot to death in his cab in the Bronx

BELMONT, N.Y. (WABC) -- Police are searching for a gunman after a man was fatally shot in his green outer borough taxi cab in the Bronx early Monday. It was New York City's eighth homicide since Saturday night.

Police believe his passenger killed the driver, and just before he died he was talking to his brother-in-law.

"I was on the phone with him. He tells me the guy has a gun. I said, 'be careful, OK'. He says 'OK,'" said Augustine Mampassi, the victim's brother-in-law.

Mampassi was talking with 39-year-old Mamadou Barry who had just told his brother-in-law that a passenger had a gun on him.

"I call him back, one time. He don't pick up. Second time. Third time. Five times, and then I see something happen," Mampassi said.

On Beaumont and East 189th, Mamadou crashed his green outer-borough taxi into a parked car and a building.

When police arrived they found the 39-year old slumped over the wheel, shot to death.

"He picked up this fare, I believe in the South Bronx, took him up to Fordham Road and then redirected him over to Crotona Parkway and that's where the homicide occurred. We will have some video in the next couple of hours hopefully," said Robert Boyce, NYPD Chief of Detectives.

Investigators believe Mamadou had picked up a street hail, considered a dangerous practice overnight.

"He was killed simply for working and for someone else wanting to take his belongings, this is unacceptable," said Fernando Mateo, of the NYS Federation of Taxi Drivers.

His family, his wife, and his sisters now come together to mourn his loss. They support each other and speak of a good hard working man.

"He's the best husband everybody can ask for. He's the best brother everybody can ask for. The best son. He's the best in everything," the victim's wife said.

Mamadou, who came from Guinea in West Africa 15 years ago, is the proud father of three children. He and his wife married seven years ago and are expecting their fourth child.

"He was always happy, always smiling, he was very good man," the victim's sister said.

"He is here to get a better life, working to get a better life to feed his family. Now he gets shot," said Mamadou Saidou Barry, the victim's brother.

Police have no motive for the shooting and continue to investigate.

No arrests have been made in any of the weekend homicides.

There were 17 gunshot incidents over the week ending Sunday, with 20 victims, compared with 15 shooting incidents during the same period last year.

For the year to date, the city experienced slightly fewer shooting incidents compared with 2014, police stats show. There were 852 at this time last year, compared with 848 so far this year - a 0.5% difference.

But during the same time frame, murders went up 5.3% - 239 this year from 227 in 2014.