Video captured the terrifying moments an Uber driver and two passengers were caught in a shootout early Sunday in Northwest D.C. They were uninjured, though bullets flew through the windshield.
The shooting occurred in an alley called Saint Matthews Court, near Rhode Island Avenue NW. It's just outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, near office buildings and popular nightclubs downtown.
Omar Al-Furaiji was working as an Uber driver and had just picked up two passengers when a barrage of gunfire erupted around his SUV. His dashcam footage captured the moment when he and his passengers heard the shots and ducked for cover.
Video shows that when the shots initially go off, Al-Furaiji looks right and left, briefly searching for the cause of the nonstop shooting. Then he crouches down toward the front passenger seat. His passenger on the left dips down and clutches the other passenger. Then they grab their stuff, get out and run, staying close to the ground.
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After the seconds of gunfire, Al-Furaiji grasps at where a bullet narrowly missed his head. He looks at a car on his left, where someone gets in and drives away.
From his rear camera, a car can be seen abruptly stopping and hitting a trashcan. Sirens are heard in the background.
Al-Furaiji showed NBC Washington where his windshield was hit with two bullets.
“The bullets came in one here and one here. This should be my head. This should be my chest," he said, pointing at the bullet holes.
One bullet hit the left side of his seat, went through the headrest, sailed through a backseat headrest and exited through the back of the SUV.
No one inside the Uber was hit by bullets, but Al-Furaiji said doctors removed 15 pieces of glass from his skin. The glass shattered and fell on him when the bullets pierced the vehicle.
Al-Furaiji said he's unsure if wants to continue working as an Uber driver.
“To be honest, I’m scared to even go inside car," he said.
He immigrated from Iraq to find a safer place to live.
Police said Al-Furaiji and his passengers were not the intended targets. No information on suspects or arrests was immediately released.
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