US Woman Shoots Uber Driver After Mistakenly Believing She Was Being Kidnapped, Taken To Mexico

A woman accused of fatally shooting her Uber driver in Texas after falsely believing she was being kidnapped and driven to Mexico has been charged with murder, authorities said.

An investigation by the El Paso Police Department in Texas allegedly showed the woman was never in danger and her driver, a 52-year-old husband and a father, never veered from her destination. Phoebe Copas, 48, is now being held on a $1.5 million bond, El Paso police said in a statement.

Copas who hails from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, remained in El Paso County jail following her arrest June 16, the day the driver was shot, according to El Paso police and county jail records.

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What his family said

The family of the driver, Daniel Piedra Garcia, said he was taken off life support on Wednesday as doctors expressed zero hope he would survive.

Ana Piedra, Daniel¡¯s wife, said in a post on GoFundMe that her husband was ¡°the sole provider for our family" and "was very happy to finally be able to work and bring home income¡± as an Uber driver after having injured his knee at his previous job, requiring surgery in April.

¡°He sadly passed,¡± Piedra said, providing an update after she says doctors told her family Daniel had no chance of surviving the shooting.

Didi Lopez, the victim's niece, told KTSM her uncle was not a criminal or a kidnapper. "It¡¯s so easy to go make your assumptions and just make up scenarios. But that¡¯s not who he is," she said. "He¡¯s a hardworking man."

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What happened?

Though Copas was initially booked on suspicion of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, the case was upgraded to murder after the driver died this week, according to police and jail records. Bond for Copas was increased from $1 million to $1.5 million.

Detectives believe Copas was in El Paso to visit her boyfriend, according to a complaint affidavit obtained by KTSM. She was in the backseat of the Uber en route to meet him at a casino when she saw roadway signs stating "Juarez, Mexico," which is across the border from El Paso, according to the affidavit.

Believing she was being kidnapped and taken to Mexico, Copas shot the driver, causing the vehicle, a Nissan Maxima, to strike a highway barrier and come to a stop along U.S. 54 South, police said.

Copas did not call authorities before shooting, and she didn't summon help immediately after opening fire, the document states. Rather, she took a photo of the injured driver and texted it to her boyfriend, detectives said in the affidavit. Then she called for help, the document states.

The boyfriend, who was not identified, went to the scene and was there as police arrived, according to the affidavit. First responders arrived to find Piedra bleeding profusely from the back of his head, the affidavit stated. He was hospitalized in critical condition.

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