Second Shooting Leaves Cabdrivers Nervous, Angry

A 59-year-old Yellow Cab driver was shot and killed in Southeast San Diego on Saturday night--the second shooting of a taxi driver in two days, police said Sunday.

Leonard Brumlow, whom co-workers described as well-liked, was found slumped in the front seat of his cab, with the engine running, door open and lights on, at 9:18 p.m. Saturday. The taxi had run up on a sidewalk in the 3900 block of Florence Street and stopped with its hood in a hedge.

Witnesses told police that Brumlow had just dropped off a passenger when he was approached by two men, one in a red jacket and the other wearing black. Brumlow had picked up his passenger in National City, police said. There were several pedestrians on the sidewalk when Brumlow’s passenger stepped out of the taxi.

Police say Brumlow, a Clairemont resident, was shot in the head with a large-caliber handgun. He was dead at the scene. Two area residents alerted police after hearing a gunshot.

Police are looking for motives for the shooting.

“There is no evidence of robbery at this time,” said San Diego police spokesman Bill Robinson.

Brumlow, who had driven a taxi for the past two years, is survived by his wife, Nobuko, and their two children, Mike, 21, and Nora, 25. Brumlow, who had worked as a warehouse foreman, preferred driving a taxi, even though he worked the night shift, his son said.

“My father liked driving a lot; he liked people and liked his job,” said Mike Brumlow. “He never mentioned being afraid.”

The shooting comes on the heels of another. A man shot a Yellow Cab driver near San Diego State University and stole his cab Friday afternoon. The victim, San Diego resident William Joseph Tufford, 47, was shot once in the back with a .22-caliber pistol. Tufford had picked up his passenger in Pacific Beach and taken him to the 5100 block of Yerba Santa Drive near Montezuma Road.

Tufford was listed in fair condition Sunday night at UC San Diego Medical Center, said nursing supervisor Jane Swett.

Police do not know if robbery was a motive in Friday’s shooting, Robinson said. The assailant was described as a man in his early 30s with long, blond hair.

“There is no indication that the suspect involved in the Friday afternoon shooting was involved in this one on Saturday,” Robinson said.

Police have offered $1,000 awards for information leading to an arrest in either shooting. Anyone with information is asked to call 235-TIPS.

Yellow Cab is also offering a $5,000 award for information in either case, said company official Anthony Palmieri.

The shootings have rattled most drivers, leaving them feeling vulnerable, said company employees.

“You are always encouraging people to be careful, watch who they pick up. But you are vulnerable all the time--like a cop,” said one of Brumlow’s colleagues, who asked that his name not be used. “Put yourself on our side of the fence--if it was one of your co-workers, how would you feel?”

As word of the weekend shootings spread, drivers expressed both fear and anger.

“I wasn’t shot, but I could have been--we have all been there at one time or another,” said Suzette Williams, a dispatcher for Orange Cab, who worked for five years as a driver and was robbed twice at gunpoint. “It’s a dangerous job but we all do it. And over the past couple of years, it has gotten worse.”

Williams and other cab workers agreed there was little that companies could do to safeguard drivers.

“We’re not taking any precautions,” said Greg Bird, a dispatcher for CO-OP Silver Cab. “Some drivers shy away from high-risk areas and some don’t care.”

Drivers themselves said they will be more cautious when they pick up passengers, though they acknowledged that there was a limit to what they could do.

“I’m not required to take anyone that might be a danger, or if they’re drunk. And I won’t take anyone who won’t give an exact address,” said Michael Hamilton, a Yellow Cab driver who started working as a driver in San Diego in 1970. Hamilton, like others, said he would like to see safety shields to protect drivers.

“I’m taking some precautions. I don’t work the late hours. I look at the individual. I’m a pretty good judge of character,” said Adolfo Franco, a driver with Checker Cab, who was waiting for possible passengers outside the Greyhound Transportation Center.

Afraid of drug- and gang-related activities in Southeast San Diego, Franco said he did not like traveling to the neighborhood where Brumlow was killed.

“I try to stay away from there. If you put yourself in the middle of something like that, something is bound to happen,” Franco said. “I don’t know of any taxi driver that will go into that area.”