Feb. 23--A cabdriver was found fatally shot in his Flash taxi parked near a library in Lincoln Square Monday morning, according to police and the company.
Kamil Shamji, 59, a licensed cabdriver in Chicago for 35 years, had been shot in the head, police said. He was discovered around 7:55 a.m. when officers responded to a call of an unresponsive person in the 4400 block of North Leavitt Street, police said.
Flash Cab issued a statement saying it was "deeply saddened to learn today of the senseless death of Kamil Shamji." It said Shamji had worked for Flash for more than 20 years.
"Flash Cab extends its deepest condolences to his family and many friends," the company said.
Police were releasing few details of the shooting and no one was reported in custody.
Peter Enger, a spokesman for United Taxidrivers Community Council, a cabdriver's union, said that Shamji was the driver of the cab he was found it, and it was believed that he had transported a fare after someone called for a cab, rather than picking up a fare on the street.
"That means they would have a name and a number, I imagine," Enger said, "... unless the call was made from a business phone," such as a restaurant or bar that might have called a cab on behalf of a patron.
Because of the way cameras in cabs work, police may have video surveillance of the person who killed Shamji, Enger said.
Another drivers' union, Cab Drivers United/AFSCME Local 2500, issued a statement offering the union's condolences to Shamji's family.
The killing "reminds us all of the almost constant danger cab drivers put themselves in every day when they go to work," according to the statement.
The union noted that after cab drivers Chinedu Madu and Seneca Richardson were killed in early 2015, the union held safety training sessions for cabbies, and called on the city to "address the violence against cab drivers immediately."
"A simple preventative measure such as a silent alarm linked to GPS, that would dispatch the nearest CPD squad car, would give Chicago's cab drivers the backup they need should they be placed in a dangerous situation with a potentially violent passenger," the union said in the statement.
A second fatal shooting occurred a few hours later in Englewood, according to police.
A 28-year-old man was shot about 9:45 a.m. in the 6400 block of South Eggleston Avenue, said Officer Ana Pacheco, a Chicago police spokeswoman.
According to preliminary reports, a silver vehicle pulled up, someone jumped out and shot the man in the head. The gunman got back in the car and fled south, Pacheco said. The victim was taken to St. Bernard Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Tribune reporter Brianna Gurciullo contributed.
