Cab driver held at gun point, knife point in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - A cab driver was held at gunpoint and at knife point in an attempted robbery in Minneapolis. 

On Nov. 10 the cab driver, Abshir Abbas, caught the entire incident on the video camera installed in his taxi. 

The Blue and White Taxi company released the video on their Facebook page. The video showed Abbas growing visibly concerned about a potential passenger he was picking up near Bryant Avenue in North Minneapolis. 

“I’m waiting for my sister,” the robber could be heard saying in the video. 

Moments later, he pulled out a gun and an accomplice inside the cab tried to reach and grab money from Abbas. 

The accomplice called out to the man with a gun, who then pulled out a knife. Abbas fought back and grabbed scissors before the would-be robber fled the cab. 

“It doesn’t happen that often, but it happens occasionally,” Zach Williams, the general manager of Blue and White, Rainbow and ABC Taxi companies said. “And this driver was violently attacked with a gun.” 

“I don’t promote the fact that the driver pulled out a pair of scissors and challenged him,” Williams added. “But I am happy that the whole incident ended with nobody getting hurt.”

Williams said that often times when drivers were robbed or harassed like Abbas was, they just went back to work, unsure if anything could be done. The surveillance system installed in cabs is changing that. 

The surveillance systems in Blue and White cabs that are only two years old are already being upgraded to a new system. 

Police are still looking for the suspects. 

“If you try to rob a cab driver, we’ve got your face, we’ve got your picture and we’re going to come after you and stop you from doing that again,” Williams said.