By STEFANO ESPOSITO and JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times
Lamon Weathers | Chicago Police
A North Side West Ridge neighborhood man was charged Friday with the fatal shooting of a veteran taxi driver Kamil Shamji earlier this week in the Lincoln Square neighborhood.
Lamon Weathers, 19, of the 2000 block of West Arthur, was charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Shamji.
The 58-year-old Skokie resident was found with a gunshot wound to the head just before 8 a.m. Monday inside his cab in the 4400 block of North Leavitt, just behind the Sulzer Regional Library, authorities said.
He picked up Weathers earlier that morning at a North Side McDonald’s and was taking him to Lincoln Square, police said at a press conference announcing the arrest Friday.
Weathers was caught on video from a camera in the cab and from one at the McDonald’s, police said.
Police say he shot the cabbie in the back of the head, then ran away with the victim’s cell phone and cash.
Weathers removed the cab’s camera but didn’t realize the SIM card was still in the vehicle, police said. The murder was captured on video, with police calling the footage “fairly shocking.”
Police also found a cigarette pack in the cab and recovered a print from it that matches Weathers’, authorities said.
When Weathers was arrested Wednesday trying to board a Metra train in Joliet, police said they also recovered a .32-caliber gun from him that appears to have been used in the slaying.
Earlier in the week, the cab driver’s union pointed to the shooting to underscore the danger all taxi drivers face.
“Kamil Shamji’s murder … reminds us all of the almost constant danger cab drivers put themselves in everyday when they go to work. Serving every corner of Chicago, their visibility allows them to serve residents and visitors, but at the same time, it makes for easy targets,” according to a statement posted on the Cab Drivers United website.
Shamji had been a cab driver for 35 years, the last 20 for Flash Cab. The union demanded the city address the violence against cab drivers.
“A simple preventative measure such as silent alarm linked to GPS, that would dispatch the nearest CPD squad car, would give Chicago’s cab drivers the backup they need should they be placed in a dangerous situation with a potentially violent passenger.”
In court Friday, Weathers was ordered held without bond.