FIRST ON KMBC: Shooting victim describes chaotic Uber ride that ended in gunfire, fiery crash
By JoBeth Davis, Krista Tatschl
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PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kansas (KMBC) — “I think I’m being followed.”
Those words were the first indication Terah Moore had that the Uber ride she’d ordered to go to a nearby store wasn’t going to be a typical grocery trip.
“My Uber driver said, ‘I think I’m being followed,'” Moore told KMBC 9 News from her hospital bed. “They followed her every move. She said, ‘No, am I being followed?’ I looked back, and I said, ‘Dang, you are being followed.'”
The events that followed stretched from Overland Park, Kansas, into Prairie Village and ended with Moore being shot multiple times.
Her Uber ride to the store turned into the most terrifying moment of her life.
“She just took off and started driving real fast,” Moore said. “She ended up hopping the island, she’s literally going 115 miles per hour. I said, ‘Slow down, slow down, you about to miss your turn, slow down!'”
Moore said the driver passed the Price Chopper near Bannister and 95th and dodged through a gas station parking lot.
“I’m thinking we’re about to run into the building there,” Moore said. “I was like, ‘We either going to die in a car accident or they gonna get us.'”
Police said that the SUV, a red or maroon 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee, caught up with Moore’s ride near 99th Street and Roe Avenue. People inside the Jeep opened fire.
“The next exit that came up was Roe. We’re weaving through traffic, her horn don’t work. She’s trying to honk her horn. By the time we got on Roe, that’s when I heard the first shots…I instantly ducked down in my seat.”
Moore said the back window of the car shattered, the driver of the Uber was screaming.
“I hear her saying, ‘I want my mama! I want my mama! I want my mama! Oh my God, I don’t want to die today!'”
Moore kept trying to calm the woman, telling her to slow down, knowing a sharp turn was coming.
“By now we’re on a residential street, 99th and Roe, now we see houses. That’s when they really started shooting,” Moore said.
Moore said the driver hit a tree and the vehicle flipped. Scene video shot by KMBC 9 News shows the car on its side in a wooded residential area near Franklin Park in Prairie Village.
“I’m happy we got into a wreck, ’cause now it’s over,” Moore said the thought went through her mind. But things quickly went from bad to worse.
“They got out of their car and shot us up again while the car was on fire.”
Moore, knowing she had been shot, struggled to get out of the burning car. She caught sight of the suspects, two Black males, one of whom was skinny with locs.
“They weren’t men, they were some young teenagers,” she said. “They had automatic guns.”
Neighbors helped Moore and the Uber driver out of the car. Moore was rushed to the hospital, where she spent several days in the ICU. She was shot five times.
The driver of the Uber suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Police issued a public plea to help identify the vehicle and its drivers, adding the Jeep had Kansas license plate 9103ACY.
Moore said she still doesn’t know if the Jeep had been following her driver before she was picked up. She didn’t know the driver before the Uber ride, or the suspects involved.
She’s beyond grateful for the people who helped pull her from the car’s burning wreckage.
“I appreciate y’all just being there,” she said. “It probably wouldn’t have even ended if y’all wasn’t there, called 911 for us. I really appreciate that because I was able to see my kids again.”
Moore is the sole caretaker of four young children. She’s out of her job as a forklift driver due to the extent of her injuries, and she’s facing mounting medical bills.
A GoFundMe has been started to help Moore and her family with those bills, and to relocate to what she believes will be a home in a safer area. Funds raised will also help Moore provide for her family while she recovers.
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