Premed Student Killed While Driving Cab
STEVE STRUNSKY
Associated Press
JERSEY CITY, N.J. - A cab driver working his way through medical school was shot and killed while being robbed of $150, authorities said.
Investigators said Rady Khella, 25, was shot sometime after he picked up his last official fare early Thursday. There were no suspects. Police found only small change in his pockets.
The victim served on a Jersey City task force looking into driver safety and other taxi-related issues.
"This was a good kid," said former Acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith. "We were meeting to figure out how we could come up with a way to resolve some of the problems that the cabbies were having regarding some of the fares they had to pick up."
Khella, a premed student at Rutgers University-Newark who emigrated from Egypt eight years ago, started driving a cab to support his family when his father fell ill. He earned a psychology degree from St. Peters College, graduating with a 4.0 grade-point average.
Khella's sister, Noura Khella, said he had planned to spend Thanksgiving with his mother. "Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday. He bought my mom a turkey and everything," she said.
Police on Friday referred calls to the prosecutor's office, which was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. The prosecutor's office did not return messages left Friday.
