Who is Neiana Allen-Bailey? Teen accused of killing father-of-two Uber driver and taking his car on joyride
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: A Seattle teenager named Neiana Allen-Bailey has been accused of shooting an Uber driver before fleeing in his vehicle.
Allen-Bailey allegedly made trips in the man's car to see her relatives, get her hair done, and consume pot on the beach before killing him.
52-year-old Amare Geda, a father of two, was discovered dead on August 8, Tuesday at 3.30 am in Seattle's SODO area, according to FOX 13 Seattle.
Who is Neiana Allen-Bailey?
Neiana Allen-Bailey, 18, was reportedly arrested by Seattle police on August 10 and was named by KIRO 7 as the suspect.
According to documents, Allen-Bailey was arrested in the King County Jail on a charge of homicide and is currently being held on a $2 million bail.
Police claimed that Allen-Bailey didn't use a rideshare service and instead approached the driver at random before shooting him.
How was the Seattle teen caught?
According to records from the Kings County Prosecuting Attorney's Office accessed by KOMO-TV, police tracked down the 18-year-old suspect after issuing a search warrant for Geda's stolen 2014 Toyota Prius.
South Lake Union police reportedly contacted Seattle police after seeing the car parked on a roadway that had been closed off for a street fair.
Seattle police arrived and arrested the teenage girl when she went back to the car. She allegedly initially informed authorities that she had bought the car through the "Offer Up" app.
Why did the Seattle teen shoot the Uber driver?
Allen-Bailey later claimed that Geda punched her during a "physical altercation" that lasted approximately two minutes. However, police claimed that surveillance footage disputed this and showed Geda standing outside his car for only about seven seconds before he was shot dead.
The woman allegedly admitted to authorities that she threw Geda's possessions out the window before driving away.
After that, she went on to narrate a 2-and-a-half-day joyride in the stolen vehicle, during which she “visited her mother and brother in Skyway… bought and smoked some marijuana in Rainier Beach… drove down to Kent and got her hair done… [and] put $20 worth of gas in the car in Renton at the Brown Bear Car Wash/Chevron,” according to KOMO.
Allen-Bailey skipped her court appearance, but Geda's family filled the courtroom, according to KOMO.
According to the site, the prosecution attorney claimed that the alleged murderer confessed to a separate heist that was carried out last month. The formal accusations will be brought up in court next week.
Who was Amare Geda?
Geda, an Ethiopian immigrant, was "among the first Uber drivers in Seattle," according to Executive Director of the Seattle Rideshare Association Ahmed Mumin. "He was a taxi cab driver before that," Mumin stated. "He’s a very hard-working person."
Geda has been supporting his family for the past 14 years by working two jobs, the association claimed in a Facebook post.
"All night he drove, while during the day, he worked at the airport," the group noted. Additionally, the organization said Geda's wife is "critically ill" as a result of the "method the police described to her the death of her husband."
Meanwhile, social media users are pleading for the safety of Seattle's rideshare drivers. A user wrote on Facebook, "The death of Amare Geda is heart breaking. We have to do more to protect rideshare drivers and help support his family."
Are 1 in 3 Seattle residents considering leaving?
According to FOX 13, this is the second time a rideshare driver has died while on their job in Seattle within the past year. Father-of-six Mohamed Kediye, 48, was fatally shot on his Lyft route close to the Amazon Spheres in September 2022.
The heinous attacks occur as surveys show that Seattle has the highest percentage of citizens who have "felt pressure to move" because of worries about rising crime in the city. According to police statistics, homicides in Emerald City increased by 24% last year, and overall crime increased by 4%.
A Seattle Times/Suffolk University poll conducted in June found that one in three Seattle residents are thinking about leaving the Emerald City as property prices and public safety concerns continue to rise.
37% of people who indicated they were thinking about moving blamed growing housing costs, while 34% mentioned public safety as their top motivation.