An Afghan father of seven was killed while driving an Uber in Durham, N.C., his family told news station WRAL.
According to his cousin, Yousaf Mangal, Ainzargul Totakhil was found dead inside his vehicle on Dec. 30. Mangal said that, “he was just doing his daily work to make money and feed his family.”
Uber’s spokesperson provided the news station with a statement as well, saying “we are profoundly saddened by the senseless act of violence that took Mr. Totakhil’s life, and our thoughts are with his family.”
In their statement, the company continued by saying, “we are reaching out to offer support and we have been in touch with law enforcement on their investigation.”
Mangal and Totakhil risked their lives as translators for U.S. troops in Afghanistan and were given special visas to live in the United States about seven years ago.
In anticipation of a safer environment, Totakhil’s wife and children were also planning to move to Durham. According to his cousin,Totakhil became a citizen early last month.
Mangal stated, “we didn’t expect him to be killed because America is more safe than Afghanistan.”
The family of Totakhil is now preparing for his funeral. To assist with funeral expenses, they created a GoFundMe account.
There have been no arrests made by Durham Police in connection with the man’s death.