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July 17, 2007

Update: Cab driver who was shot in head dies

CENTRAL FALLS -- Jose Rodriguez, the cab driver shot in the head while transporting three men to Central Falls, died today at Rhode Island Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Nancy Cawley said.

Rodriguez, a father of two children, died at about 2 p.m. He had been in critical condition.

Central Falls police continued its investigation today working with Providence police to find suspects in the shooting.

The manager of Gonzalez Cab Inc. where Rodriguez worked, Evelyn Gonzalez, said that Rodriguez had picked up three men on Spruce St. in Providence to bring them to Central Falls.

Gonzalez, who was working dispatch when the midday shooting occurred, said Rodriguez’s wife called frantically because she had been talking on the phone with her husband, and he had intimated that the three men he had picked up were acting suspiciously.

She asked him where he was and he said Exit 27 on Route 95 and then the line went dead, according to Gonzalez.

Mrs. Rodriguez called Gonzalez and told them her to try to reach her husband. When Gonzalez could not, she said she immediately called Central Falls Police.

Rodriguez has worked with the cab company since 2004, according to Gonzalez. “It is difficult because we are all like family here,” she said.

The company shut down after the shooting but was opened for business today at 6 a.m.

Gonzalez said she is planning to join with other cab companies to ask Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline to help cabbies get partitions in their cars to protect them from their riders.

“The cabbies are fearful,” Gonzalez said. “There is not much protection for them.”

-- Journal staff writer Tatiana Pina

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 7:00 PM | Permalink

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Karen Zabatta | July 17, 2007 8:34 PM link

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