Taxi driver shot 13 times in West Philadelphia

WEST PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A taxi driver was shot 13 times during a confrontation with a customer in West Philadelphia, police say.

It happened around 2 a.m. Sunday on the 800 block of Brooklyn Street.

"We were asleep, and we heard about 13 shots," said Gene Way of West Philadelphia.

"I heard like five shots. It was pow, pow, pow, and then pow, pow," said Iris Jiggets of West Philadelphia.

But before those shots were fired, the Philadelphia Taxicab Company tells police a driver had an altercation with a rider who was giving him a hard time. He refused to give him a ride - 30 minutes later, more than a dozen shots were fired.

Terrified neighbors peered out of their windows and saw a man lying on the ground.

"Hollering and screaming. He was screaming that he had gotten shot. It was heart wrenching," said Way.

Officers from the 16th District quickly responded to a call of a person with a gun and shots fired.

They arrived to find a 56-year-old man unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds. His taxi was found still running nearby.

The victim was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in critical condition.

Neighbors were left shaken up and in shock.

"It was just unbelievable," said Way.

And for one grandmother, who has seen a lot in the 50 years she's lived in the neighborhood, she says it's not an image or sound you can easily forget.

"It's really been bothering me. It has because the moans and groans, you know, are haunting me," said Jiggets.

Police are searching for a black vehicle leaving the scene of the shooting.