A 19-year-old man has been charged with murder after a taxi driver was found dead in the backseat of a cab on Chicago’s Northwest Side earlier this week.
Lamon Weathers was charged Friday with the murder of 59-year-old Kamil Shamji, who was found dead Monday in the city’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, police said.
According to authorities, Shamji picked up what would be his last fare at 10:50 p.m. Sunday at a McDonald's on North Clark Street. Lamon Weathers asked the driver to take him to the Sulzer Library.
Shortly after, Weathers is seen on the cab's camera shooting Shamji in the head, police said during a Friday news conference.
Shamji was discovered unresponsive in the cab just before 8 a.m. in the 4400 block of North Leavitt Avenue, police said.
Weathers had ripped the camera out of the cab, but left the data card in, allowing authorities to still view the footage. He also left behind a pack of cigarettes with a fingerprint on it, police said.
Weathers fled the scene, getting on a Brown Line train at the Montrose station. Police say he was still carrying the murder weapon when he was arrested.
A cab driver claiming to be a longtime friend of the victim said he knew Shamji had picked up a fare not far from where his body was found.
Siddiq said Shamji had been driving a cab for 20 to 25 years and was well known among fellow cab drivers. He was also a family man, who drove a cab to provide for his two daughters, Siddiq said.
“Not everybody is bad,” Siddiq said. “Maybe one or two person is bad. Anything is possible anywhere.”
