Palm Bay cabbie stable after shot 5 times

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Palm Bay Police are trying to figure out why a driver for Call-A-Cab was gunned down in his taxi early Tuesday morning.  Investigators say the cabbie, who has not yet been identified, was shot at least five times. 

Pictures of the car show that the front and rear driver's side windows were blown out by bullets.  “The bullet holes come from outside the car, not inside so it wasn’t someone sitting in the car with him,” said Sgt. Michael Pusatere.  He says the cabbie is in stable condition, but still getting medical treatment so detectives have not bee able to talk to him yet.

Investigators are trying to figure out exactly what happened.  Sgt. Pusatere says the cab driver last spoke with his dispatcher at Call-A-Cab at 11:45 Monday night. One hour later at 12:45 Tuesday morning the cabbie called 911 saying he’d been shot and he was at Babcock and Dawn roads.  “When they arrived they found the driver, he was starting to go unconscious he’d been shot multiple times.  He was  transported to Holmes Regional,” said Sgt. Pusatere.

The detective says he believes the cabbie was shot in the Walgreens parking lot at Babcock and Port Malabar, due to where 911 calls came from reporting shots fired.  And PBPD says they found shattered glass on the ground. That’s a half mile away from where the cabbie was found sitting in his car in the median of the road.  “We’re still trying to retrieve video trying to confirm that,” said Sgt. Pusatere. 

With the driver still getting medical attention, detectives can’t talk to him yet.  The motive is still unknown at this point.  “Obviously we look at the robbery angle. Was it a robbery gone bad? Was there someone he was meeting up with? He didn’t have a fare at the time,” said Sgt. Pusatere. 

PBPD is looking for anyone with information on this shooting.  If you have tips call Palm Bay PD or Crimeline  at 800-423-TIPS