CLEVELAND — Cleveland Police are investigating a second rideshare driver who was shot and killed in a little over 24 hours.
Around 1:13 a.m., officers responded to the 2100 block of East 84th Street after a vehicle had crashed into a dumpster, police said.
Upon arrival, they found Vasyl Shvets, 27, from Parma slumped over the steering wheel, suffering from a gunshot wound and not breathing, police said.
Shvets was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Officers were able to determine that he worked for Lyft, the same company a 56-year-old man worked for when he was shot and killed Sunday evening in Cleveland, police said.
Around 9:50 p.m. on Sunday, officers responded to the intersection of East 103 Street and Rosehill Avenue after the 56-year-old victim had crashed into the guardrail in front of a home, police said.
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The man was found to have been shot in the head and was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"At this point, there's no indication that there should be a heightened concern for Lyft drivers or Uber drivers," Cleveland Police Public Information Officer, Sergeant Wilfredo Diaz, told News 5 on Monday.
But now with two deadly shootings, all ride-share drivers can do is think the worst.
"Maybe serial killer," longtime Lyft driver Eddy Naserallah said on Tuesday. "It's scary. It's just senseless."
Naserallah has been driving for Lyft for more than a decade as a way to support his family.
"If I start like around 8 o'clock, 7 o'clock, sometime early in the morning, like two in the morning, 3 o'clock in the morning, I don't expect any of the bad people to be outside," he said. "You get the people from nice hotels and stuff like that. You don't have to deal with the low class."
The deadly shootings haven't made him rethink his job, but he said it does cause him to worry.
"You have no choice but to keep going because you want to take care of your family. You want to feed, you know, paying the bills. I believe nobody can step back," Naserallah said.
Nia Holland has been a Lyft driver for a few years.
She's not stepping back from her position as a driver, but said there is definitely a heightened sense of concern.
"I've never run into the issue of even anything like that happening, but I would say morally, with the things that I've heard even today, the 27-year-old dying, I think situations like that would make you want to feel that way," Holland said. "It's so frustrating because that's another stream of income, and it's like you can't even go out and actually do your job. Your mind frame is on making extra money when another person's mind frame is on hurting somebody."
Especially as a female driver, she said nothing feels safe anymore.
Joye Toombs agrees.
Toombs applied to be a Lyft driver last month and said she was picking up a car soon to start accepting rides.
"I wanted something to do that was not real restrictive, that I don't have to do every day, that I can do at my own pace. A good friend of mine, she's doing it, and she shared with me how she was doing it. She shared with me the money that was possible to make, and I thought it was a great opportunity," Toombs said.
But now, she's rethinking it.
"Two Lyft drivers shot in two days, it's worth reconsidering. That's not coincidence. One is, it's too many, so two is definitely too many. It's ridiculous. These people are out here just doing their job, you know, trying to make a living to support their families, and somebody just recklessly come and take their lives," Toombs said.
Lyft confirms in both cases that the riders identified were permanently removed from the platform.
But drivers want more from the company.
"We should have a better system than what we have now. They should have more security for the drivers," Naserallah said.
Holland suggested that the app implement location sharing between drivers and their loved ones. She also said that while she understands why Lyft doesn't allow weapons, these two incidents should prove otherwise.
"Protection is a must," she said.
Toombs said if not a gun, drivers should start bringing household items.
"There's golf clubs, there's bats, there's hammers, there's other things you could [bring] because you need to protect yourself and you gotta be really cautious about who you pick up," Toombs said.
She also believes the app should conduct regular check-ins with drivers and have a feature to report suspicious rider behavior.
Another idea bounced around is having background checks for riders.
"I've heard of stories where people are able to create accounts with fake information. Fake first name, fake last name, and then you just get a ride without any identification. I think that is very important. They should have that for the ride shares because anybody can get in the car," Holland said.
Rider background checks are something Toombs said she could also get behind.
Cleveland Police said there is currently no information to suggest that the two shootings are related or that a single suspect is responsible.
Detectives are working with Lyft on the investigations.
"We’re devastated by the loss of two drivers in separate incidents in Cleveland, and our hearts are with their families as we work to reach out and offer support," a Lyft spokesperson said on Tuesday.
So far, no suspect has been identified by police.
Anyone with information on the shootings is asked to contact Cleveland Police at 216-623-5464.
