As NYPD detectives zero in on the gunman who killed Uber driver Issa Mbolo Isac in an apparent road rage episode, a group of cabbies Friday made a controversial decision to parade out a masked witness who claims to have seen the shooting and can identify the suspect.
The move by the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers had NYPD officials scratching their heads over the group’s decision, which they fear could jeopardize the ongoing investigation. Police and law enforcement sources confirm that cops have identified the shooter and were hunting for him.
“This is still an active investigation and we’re close to an arrest so there’s nothing that could have been said at the press conference that could be advantageous to this case,” a high-ranking NYPD source said.
“Anything that was said would just make this guy either bounce or find a better place to hide.”
The anonymous eyewitness, brought before reporters in a hooded sweatshirt, ski mask, and dark sunglasses during a press conference at the group’s headquarters, offered a new account of the events that led to the shooting. The witness claimed Mbolo Isac was not a victim of road rage, which contradicts the NYPD version, as well as surveillance video described to the Daily News.
The drunken gunman, the whistleblower said, came out of an unlicensed after-hours bar near Morris Ave. near the Cross Bronx Expressway service road just before 7 a.m. on Thursday, realized someone had sideswiped his Mercedes, and began firing at any passing car he could see.
“He just walked out and just started shooting at every car that was going by,” the witness, a cab driver who knows the shooter, told reporters in Spanish. “And that’s when, at that moment, (Mbolo Isac) was driving by, and he was struck.”
Mbolo Isac was shot at least twice in the head, cops said. He died in his blue Toyota Rav4 after it crashed into another parked car.
Courtesy NY State Federation of Taxi Drivers
For-hire driver Issa Isac, 55, was found dead in his crashed SUV in the Bronx on Jan. 1, 2025 after being shot in the head. (Courtesy NY State Federation of Taxi Drivers)
NYPD investigators, however, contend that road rage is the motive behind the killing and Mbolo Isac got into a fender bender with the shooter a short time before the shooting.
Surveillance footage recovered from the scene confirms the NYPD’s version.
“(They) crashed at the corner right there,” an area worker who reviewed the surveillance footage told the Daily News. “After that the guy in the Mercedes he stopped, he parked over there. The guy in the taxi he parked.”
The Mercedes driver goes off camera for a few minutes, then comes back and begins arguing with the Uber driver, said the worker, who asked not to be named. The gunman then disappears again and returns with a woman. Mbolo Isac remained parked at the scene during the entire ordeal, the worker said.
“Like ten minutes the guy in the taxi (was) parked over there,” he said. “He stayed there a couple minutes and after that the (shooter) comes back.”
This time, the suspect pulls a gun and opens fire on Mbolo Isac, who tried to drive away, the worker said. Ballistics evidence recovered at the scene confirms that the gunman shot from the street toward the Uber driver’s car.
“I counted 17 shots,” the worker said. “He just kept going.”
FDNY firefighters responding to an unrelated car blaze in the area found Mbolo Isac’s crashed Toyota RAV4 with Taxi & Limousine Commission plates and alerted cops, who found the cab driver dead inside.
Mbolo Isac lived in Throgs Neck in the Bronx and was finishing up a late night shift when he was killed. He’s married with four children who live in Burkina Faso in west Africa, relatives said.
“He had a very good heart, and he worked very hard to support his family,” the Uber driver’s brother Mounir Zoron, 35, said Thursday. “He never had any problems with anybody. He was trying to run away from them and they shot him.”
“They are criminals,” he said. “They are animals. He did absolutely nothing to deserve this.”
The victim previously drove a yellow cab, but sold his taxi medallion to fund the purchase of a house in Africa for his family, Mateo said.
Mbolo Isac split his Toyota with a friend, who drove the SUV for Uber during the day, while the victim used the vehicle evenings and nights.
Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the Federation of Taxi Drivers, said he put Friday’s press conference together to update the media on the case and to show that “the $10,000 that we offered worked.” The federation had offered a $10,000 reward for the shooter’s capture,
The eyewitness has already spoken to detectives and the shooter, identified as an immigrant from the Domican Republic “was looking to flee to the airport last night,” Mateo said.
“If he hasn’t fled to the Dominican Republic It’s possible he might not even be here anymore, right?” he asked, adding that the presser “also puts a little pressure on the PD to get you the information, to get you the information out faster.”
The gunman remained at large as of Friday afternoon. Police believe the witness who has come forward only saw the shooting, not the car crash that preceded it.
“He can identify (the suspect) and he will be one of the people identifying the shooter,” Mateo said about the witness.
Anyone with information about Mbolo Isac’s murder is asked to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
With Rocco Parascandola
