Uber Driver Allegedly Shot Dead by Man Who Believed He Was Being Scammed
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
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Loletha Hall (left); William Brock.Photo:
Lo-Letha Toland-Hall/Facebook; Clark County Sheriff's Office
A 61-year-old Uber driver in Ohio was allegedly shot and killed by an 81-year-old man who was under the false belief that she was involved in an effort to scam him.
On March 25, William Brock called the Clark County Sheriff's Office and reported that he had shot a woman, according to an affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.
Brock allegedly told authorities that "a male on the phone threatened him and his family," and when Loletha Hall, an Uber driver, arrived at his home, "he thought she was going to harm him."
However, upon investigation, authorities determined that Hall was "not associated with the male on the phone" nor was she a threat to Brock. On April 10, Brock was arrested and charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty, according to court docs, and his bond was set at $200,000.
Hall, who was shot "several times," according to the criminal complaint, was transported to a local hospital where she died from her injuries.
William Brock.
Clark County Sheriff's Office
When authorities arrived at Brock's home in South Charleston, Ohio, they found Hall suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and he had suffered injuries to his head and ear, according to local outlet NBC4i. Hall was unarmed when Brock shot her, per authorities.
Lt. Kristopher Shultz of the Clark County Sheriff's Office told NBC News that Brock had received a "scam call" earlier that day from a person "purporting to be someone from our courts who informed him a family member was incarcerated and that he had a bond of a significant amount of money."
"The calls turned from 'I'm an officer in the court' to 'We have this subject hostage, this is a ransom demand,' " Shultz told the outlet.
A ride was then requested by the scam caller, or someone associated, on the Uber app, sending Hall to Brock's home, per NBC News.
Upon her arrival, she "did not have any idea," Schultz said, according to the outlet. Brock confronted her, asking who she was working with, took her cell phone and blockaded her exit. Hall was shot three times, Schultz said, and allegedly only after the third time "did he then make contact with authorities to report the incident."
Loletha Hall.
Lo-Letha Toland-Hall/Facebook
An Uber spokesperson tells PEOPLE in a statement, "This is a horrific tragedy and our hearts continue to be with Loletha's loved ones as they grieve. We have been in contact with law enforcement and remain committed to supporting their investigation."
According to an obituary for Hall, she was a Columbus, Ohio native who had been living in Charlotte, N.C., before moving back home in 2023. She was described as an "incredible cook," and had retired from work at the Regional Income Tax Agency.
She is survived by her 33-year-old son, Mario.
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Per the accounts of video collected by police this guy will probably spend the rest of his life in prison for killing an unarmed innocent person.
Good. This "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality needs to be rooted out.
As the population continues to age and become more divisive, some people with guns are only looking for a reason to use them.
a senseless tragedy and an innocent victim. I drove uber for 5 years and experienced quite a few sketchy situations. I stopped driving for them a few months after the covid pandemic was over because the passengers just seemed to be more rude than usual, plus the new CEO decided that treating drivers like shit and dropping their pay was the best way to get their tanked stock value nose above water. uber has become very efficient at keeping all their bad news, except murder, out of the media.
It's getting more difficult for them to do so, but they keep trying.
they still send me emails and texts to start driving again, "on my terms", as they phrase it...
in the end the only fun part was throwing rude people out of my car on the side of the road or abandoning them at gas stations and convenience stores.
another innocent victim of a deluded trumpster...
I've not read anything about the perps politics. Please stay on topic...
you got it...
Thank you. I appreciate it.
We probably should wait for "the rest of the story"
I have a feeling we are reading the whole story.
An attempted scam, a 3rd party courier that had no clue what was going on , and an old man who made bad choices in reaction.
The "inherent" dangers of walking up to a stranger's door! We never know what others are dealing with in real-time. From medication issues, or lack thereof, to issues of old age and/or mental health. Incidentally, this is the second form of death that I find "unappetizing." Meaning while I accept that I could leave this world in any of a myriad of ways. . . there are two ways I do not PREFER: 1. Airplane crash. 2. Misunderstanding. Irrespective of order.
They did not arrest and charge the man until they viewed camera footage of him confronting the Uber driver, shoot her, argue some more, shoot her a second time, yell at her again and shoot her for a 3rd time killing her. It's not out of the realm of possibility he might have gotten away with the first shot, but she was down and defiantly no threat for the 2nd and 3rd shots. What could you possibly imagine be the rest of that story?
Well, the victim is black and the shooter is white.....there has to be more to the story /S!
Camera footage? This man has cameras and he did this like that? Seriously, that changes 'everything.' He did not take pity on her. Now the story becomes gross! And, Brock is a monster moreso than the scammer. Neither Brock or the scammers deserve to be 'pitied.'
It was the Uber dashcam footage.
I don't know if they still do it or not, but the uber driver app had the ability to turn on your phone's camera and audio to watch and/or listen to you while the app was on and you were driving for them.
Dashcam footage. Okay, that makes sense. Because if this man had known he was being filmed I could not see him carrying on so when he was old enough to know it would be a "classic" murder (charge) with consequences.
A coincidental killing and death. What a tragedy. It is the "impossibility" of sharing with someone that there has been a misunderstanding. . . and not be given the time and space to explain it before watching yourself being violated. . .gravely. Such a waste of life. . .lives, plural. She should not have had to go out of this life this way. . .trying to make extra cash. . . and he should not have to spend his eighties agonizing over having caused an innocent woman's demise at his hand and under these circumstances.
This is near the worst "feature" of this crime: An unsuspecting victim is brought into the situation on purpose. It could not have gone any worse had the "scammer" told Brock that the Uber driver was actually coming to do harm to him! (Probably why Brock sees this as a (mistaken/error) case of self-defense.) That said, all Mr. Brock had to do was not open the door. (He knew he had not called for "any" pick-up or delivery.)
Better yet, he should have just called 911 and explained the situation and let the authorities handle it.
He could have also just stayed inside and not made contact as you said.
Don't know what the cops could have done to track things down if anything, but they could have been made aware such things are happening and made a release informing people of such scams happening locally, they do that here.
I would like to believe that's how most people would have handled the situation.
Camera footage? This man has cameras and he did this like that? Seriously, that changes 'everything.' He did not take pity on her. Now the story becomes gross! And, Brock is a monster moreso than the scammer. Neither Brock or the scammers deserve to be 'pitied.'
"Blockcaded her exit." This is likely where the court will find Intent.
There is no justification for Brock to "invite" someone onto his property (maybe even into his dwelling?) whom his senses tell him has come to do him harm. Enough so, that he needs to defend himself (take up arms) against it.
This is so extreme, I have to believe they had convinced this guy that either he, or someone he cared for very much, was in serious danger. Otherwise, he was just psycho. Either way, it's a very sad situation.
jaw dropping gullibility isn't as shocking as it once was...
For some reason, the elderly seem particularly susceptible to scammers. Weirdly, even though everyone knows this, they all still think it’s perfectly fine for octogenarians to be president.
Ooh! I found a way to make it political. Boom!
There are still living elderly people who were born in a different era (1930's for instance) and they are a "kinder and gentler" class of people then what spammers and scammers will encounter in people facing an elderly age "upcoming." For those people. . .spammers and scammers will get a rude awakening. . . .
Also, elderly people don't keep up with the "latest" scams and their sophistication. "The sweetheart caller" someone who calls elderly people and talks to them nice and is "personable." The "official" someone who calls (with "agency" sounds going on in the background) and portends a 'situation' is URGENT! The "rewarder" someone who calls to tell you that mailer they sent you in the mail (but you did not respond to) for a gift waiting for you of 'a few dollars' on a gift card, but you must listen to their spiel first and supply the INFORMATION they request about yourself. The "insinuator" who calls to say your computer (if any) has been infected and they are the "agents" who need to sign on REMOTELY to aid in cleaning it up so give them access to it.
Of course, elderly people, largely have put down their interest in other people being interested in doing harm to them. . . because they are. . . "off the front-lines"— totally ignorant that for scammers and spammers "they" are of particular interest because of their built up wealth over a lifetime, their benefits, and yes their retirement income. Moreover, elderly people are distracted by their aches and pains. They "love" their phone calls as it gives them a chance to talk to someone outside the norm. And, they were brought up to trust.
We have seniors approaching a disposition of "elderly" who came of age on computers and are 'articulate' in what spammers and scammers look like (because of years of 'fake' email scams and the like), but in addition. . . these seniors will not mind being rude, even crude, and will even hang up or cuss out (using some truly "colored" words and phrases) a loser who tries a sob story, "request for information, or intimidation on him or her.