Who is Nasrat Ahmad Yar? US Army interpreter and Afghan refugee fatally shot while driving for Lyft
WASHINGTON, DC: A US Army veteran was shot and killed while driving for Lyft in the federal capital on Monday, July 3. Nasrat Ahmad Yar, 31, was found in his vehicle just after midnight in Washington, DC on Monday morning after the authorities responded to reports of an unconscious person.
Nasrat, unfortunately, suffered a fatal gunshot wound and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. "I don’t have words for it. It’s unfathomable how senseless this is for somebody who came here for the express opposite reasons," veteran and friend Matthew Butler told Fox 5.
Who is Nasrat Ahmad Yar?
Nasrat Ahmad Yar is a former US Army interpreter who immigrated from Afghanistan to the United States with his family. According to a GoFundMe set up by his close ones, Nasrat served alongside the US Army Special Forces in Afghanistan for 10 years before relocating to America after the Taliban's takeover. He was working at the ride-share company for extra money alongside his job as a tow truck driver. Nasrat is survived by his family, including his four children and wife in Virginia.
Ahmad Yar worked for the US Government since the age of 10
According to the outlet, Nasrat brought his family to the US in 2021 and landed in the city of Alexandria in Virginia to be closer to the DC-Afghan community. Before being an interpreter, Nasrat worked for the US Government since the age of 10, taking the modest of jobs he could get, Butler said.
"Once your deployment is over, you’re in even more danger, than you were before because now you have nobody but yourself to defend – to defend yourself against the Taliban,” Jeramie Malone, who helped Nasrat and his family escape Afghanistan, told the outlet. “That is really a huge sacrifice for somebody to make it. He was in a lot of danger in Afghanistan, so yeah, for him to come here and in less than two years after arriving in the States — it’s really devastating.”
A video has been released after the shooting
Authorities have released a footage, which shows four people running away from the scene, shortly after the shooting took place. The clip from an alleyway security camera shows Nasrat dropping off his customers and being seated in his parked vehicle with his hazard lights on for several minutes. A group of suspects then got close to his car and seconds later a single gunshot can be heard before they dashed. In the video, one can be heard saying, "You just killed him" to which another responded, "he was reaching," more than once.
A statement was provided to Fox 5 by a spokesperson for Lyft, where he expressed the company's grief about Nasrat's death. "Our hearts are with Mr Nasrat's loved ones as they confront this unspeakable tragedy. We have reached out to his family to offer our support and are in contact with law enforcement to assist with their investigation."
The Metropolitan Police Department is now offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.