A man who was killed during a random shooting spree in Renton earlier this month was a well-known rideshare driver. Those who knew him said he was kind and advocated for the rights of rideshare drivers.
Mahamadou Kabba was one of three people shot at random. Ahmed Mumin was a friend and colleague of Kabba and said when the shooting happened, Kabba was waiting to complete a rideshare trip. While this was a drive-by shooting, Mumin said it’s still important to show what drivers continue to face.
“He was a very popular person who’s known across the rideshare industry here in Seattle, and he was also a very vocal advocate of drivers," said Mumin, who is also the executive director for Seattle Rideshare Drivers Association.
Kabba was a part of the association which has called on the City of Seattle to implement safety protections for them.
“We proposed a safety task force that would talk about the issue of safety for the drivers," said Mumin.
Mumin, along with hundreds of other drivers, took their concerns to City Hall in September of 2022, when another rideshare driver was shot and killed while on the job. Mayor Bruce Harrell had shown up to the protest and said they were going to work on improving driver safety.
“Our best ideas on how to keep you safe are going to come from you," Harrell said when addressing rideshare drivers in September 2022.
Mumin and the association met with the Mayor in December about those ideas, including their safety task force proposal but said the process has been slow and minimal.
“We have not yet heard if this idea is something the Mayor or the City Council will be able to entertain but what we are saying is that they should understand that more and more tragedies will continue to grow if we don’t address the issues," said Mumin.
Rideshare drivers continue to sound the alarm on how the safety of drivers continues to be threatened.
“The drivers are very terrified, especially drivers cutting down on driving as regularly as they would like, especially, during the night time," said Mumin.
We’ve reached out to the Mayor’s office, who told us they’ve heard their ideas and will “continue to collaborate with them to support and advance safety solutions across levels of government and with private partners.”