EL PASO, TX — A Texas Uber driver is fighting for his life after he was shot by his female passenger because she reportedly thought he was kidnapping her and taking her to Mexico.
48-year-old Phoebe Copas has been arrested and is now facing charges of Aggravated Assault Causing Serious Bodily Injury.
El Paso Police officers were dispatched to a shooting call last Friday afternoon around 2:20 p.m. on U.S. 54 near the border highway.
The preliminary investigation shows that a 52-year-old man, later identified as Daniel Piedra Garcia from El Paso, was driving Copas, who was visiting from Kentucky, to a destination in El Paso's lower valley.
At some point during the drive, Copas thought she was being taken into Mexico and shot Piedra, police say.
According to officials, the investigation did not support that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra was veering from Copas' intended destination.
Piedra was critically wounded, taken to the hospital for emergency treatment, and remains hospitalized.
"At this moment, we still have not been able to determine the reason behind the shooting, and there is, of course, right now an active investigation. now, there was preliminary reports that a kidnapping may have been involved or may have taken place, at this moment in the investigation, the investigation does not support that any kidnapping had taken place," said Sgt. Javier Sambrano, El Paso Police Dept.
Copas was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility under a $1 million bond.
