this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2026
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[–] MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 3 points 14 minutes ago (1 children)

At the moment there is 14 comments on this thread, and not single one is questioning why the old timer had a gun.

American gun culture is just wild.

[–] QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 minutes ago

He probably bought it

[–] AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 39 points 2 hours ago (3 children)

Holy shit that picture is insane and so fucking sad. It's been a min since I read something so startlingly depressing that was completely unrelated to the authoritarian regime we're living under, but that picture says a thousand words.

[–] thefluffiest@feddit.nl 17 points 1 hour ago

Endemic violence is completely related to the fascist regime. It’s one of the reasons why the US is such fertile ground for fascism

[–] ianhclark510@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

It’s not completely unrelated, why the fuck is a 61 year old (the victim) out driving Uber?

[–] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 17 points 2 hours ago (3 children)

I use rideshare constantly and in my experience most uber/lyft drivers are either immigrants, people between jobs, or retirees looking to make extra money/socialize.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 hour ago

I spend time in central Florida every year (Orlando/Kissimmee). Many of the ride share drivers I come across are retiree, often also immigrants, looking to socialize. Last guy I rode with was originally from Nicaragua, in his seventies, got his citizenship in the 1980's, and just does ride share for two hours three times per week, simply to chat with the passengers. Slowest ride from the airport ever given that he never went past 45mph, but the chat was pleasant.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 1 points 44 minutes ago* (last edited 42 minutes ago)

Plus 61 is still younger than retirement age. Maybe they tapped out of a different career or wanted something a little simpler before going for a full retirement. Maybe they were a cabbie and prefers uber as they has more control over their schedule.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 0 points 19 minutes ago* (last edited 17 minutes ago)

People rarely openly admit it's going badly for them.
Most Americans think they are temporarily inconvenienced future billionaires.
You are naive if you think what you describe is the general picture.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 points 28 minutes ago* (last edited 22 minutes ago)

The guy is an absolute psycho for shooting someone 6 times because he thinks she is trying to scam him.
This is exactly the kind of psychos that welcome a fascist regime.
May he live long and suffer through the rest of his life.
Just seeing the fear and worry on her face and whole body language is heartbreaking, while the old psycho is in absolute zero danger, but plays prosecutor, judge and executioner and kills her in cold blood.

[–] Lembot_0006@programming.dev 11 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

That's why you don't start shooting around because of money. Leave shooting for life-endangering situations.

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

When money is just as important if not more than life in your society or civilization it’s easy to blur the lines between human life and money. Look at all the oil wars under the premise of some bullshit like capitalism based freedom which is basically modern day slavery. People literally died to make Dick Cheney rich.

[–] RotatingParts@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Anyone have an idea of what the scam was and how it was supposed to work? Ride share drivers and customers should be aware of it.

[–] Coastal_Explorer@feddit.online 5 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

From the article, this doesn't sound like a scam specific to Uber/Ride shares.

What we know:

  • "an Uber driver who he wrongly thought was trying to rob him after scam phone calls deceived them both"
  • "wrongly assuming she was in on a plot to get $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said."
  • "The driver fell victim to the same scammer, driving to Brock’s home between Dayton and Columbus to pick up a package for delivery, according to investigators."

There are a lot of ways to scam people over the phone: tech-support/refund scams, Scams where legal action is threatened unless you pay (ex: IRS scams), emergency money requests from friends in trouble (ransom scams, bond scams, etc), pig butchering scams (a.k.a romance scams or when you get that random text from someone pretending to reach out to the wrong number), employment scams.

Since we know that the man fell for a bond scam, it's likely that the Uber driver was scammed into working as a money laundering mule for the real scammers. It's very likely that the Uber driver had fallen for one of the other scams and then she was told to pick up packages where she could earn some of "her" money back. She would get more as long as she only took a certain amount and forwarded on the rest. Either that, or she was scammed into working for a "company" where "clients" send in packages of money, and she transfers it to different accounts as well as a little to her own.

Edit: formatting

[–] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

This article does not give me enough information. Idk if I have the time or procrastinating allowance to go down this rabbit hole but I really want to read the full court transcripts.

[–] AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Yeah it wasn't super clear from the story except to say they both were being scammed.

She just thought she was there to pick up a package

He thought she was there to steal $12K from him.

Not sure if it was supposed to be a "prank" but shit is fucking awful, and whoever set it up is somehow still out there free to go about their life like they didn't ruin countless others

[–] AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

As far as I'm aware, it was a scammer that wanted a money mule (someone to pick up a package of money from someone they'd tricked, and deliver it to the scammer or a place where the scammer could then have someone launder it), but they didn't want to go through the process of actually hiring any kind of person, so they used the Uber Courier service, where any old Uber driver can pick up a package and deliver it to another location/person.

As far as that woman was concerned, someone had probably just left behind a package and needed it delivered to a friend's house or something. No prank necessary.