Muslim taxi driver shot on Thanksgiving in Hazelwood calls attack a hate crime

A Muslim cab driver picks up a man, who starts asking the driver where he’s from. Then the guy gets all worked up about ISIS, even though the driver says he’s from Morocco and hates ISIS. Here’s the kicker:

“So it was this kind of stuff until we got to his destination. He asked me to wait for a little bit because he forgot his wallet in the house. I waited for just five minutes, I think, and I noticed that he came out of the house carrying a rifle in his hand. I noticed him coming toward me. I didn’t hesitate. I [made] a fast decision to leave and drove my taxi away because I felt he was going to do something. There is danger. He would shoot me or something. I felt like he had the intention to kill me.”

The driver said that as he sped away he heard a couple of gunshots, one of which blasted out the back window of his cab and struck him. The incident occurred between Flowers Avenue and Tecumseh Street, and he was able to drive a couple of blocks further to Mansion Street, he said, where he had to pull over. He then waved down a passing car and got someone to call the police.