Rider Describes How His Lyft Driver Was Carjacked By Man With Uzi
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man was in the backseat of a ride-hailing vehicle on Thursday morning while the driver was carjacked at gunpoint.
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"You are really in shock, you don't know what to do. You are kind of stunned."
Stunned because he was in the backseat of a Lyft when a man, armed with an Uzi, decided to steal it.
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot has the young man's frightening story in this original report.
Tyler Schatz was in the backseat at Orleans and Division early Thursday morning. He was dosing off in the backseat after finishing his overnight shift as a baker, but was jolted out of his sleep by what he saw.
CBS 2: The guy comes to the window. What do you see in his hands?
"An Uzi, an extended clip," Schatz said.
CBS 2: You're grateful to be alive?
"Oh yeah," he said. "Pretty much."
Schatz was riding Thursday morning in the ride-sharing vehicle when his driver stopped at the red light. Then a man started knocking on the driver's window.
"Young male, pretty much, walks up with an Uzi," Schatz said. "He tells the Uber driver to roll the window down. He points the gun at him, opens the door, punches the Uber driver in the face. Gets in the car, pretty much tosses the gun to the side."
All the while, Schatz, is in the backseat.
"He looks back at me, tells me to get out of the car, didn't take anything from me," he said. "I get out of the car and he pretty much drives off."
Schatz also says seeing the weapon, was like a scene out of a movie.
CBS 2: It looked like a small machine gun?
"Yeah. Pretty much, just like it doesn't look like something like somebody should normally have in their hand. Something that somebody shouldn't be playing with," Schatz laughed.
CBS 2: You could laugh about it now, but I'm sure you were like, 'What is going on!?
"I was real shocked," Schatz said. "It's like, I laugh about it now, 'cause I'm lucky I'm still living, like nothing really happened too bad, but anybody, anybody could be in that situation."
There have been three similar situations in the area , in just the past five days. Sources said detectives believe the incidents are being carried out by the same crew of car thieves.
