An Afghan interpreter for U.S. Army Special Forces who escaped the Taliban was shot and killed earlier this week while driving for Lyft in Washington, D.C.
Police found 31-year-old Nasrat Ahmad Yar, a father of four, dead in his car with a single gunshot wound just before dawn on Monday. According to a GoFundMe page set up to benefit his widow, he was working an “extra late shift” for the ride share company when he was killed.
Yar served with the U.S. Army for a decade in Afghanistan before the country fell under Taliban control, according to the GoFundMe. As a likely target for retribution by the insurgent group, he and his family escaped in 2021, relocating first to Philadelphia before settling in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C.
“Nasrat’s commitment to his family and community was unwavering,” a note on the GoFundMe page reads. “He always extended a helping hand to friends and family and readily assisted anyone in need. He was immensely proud to be in the U.S., and grateful for the safety and opportunities that would be afforded to his four young children.”
While in Pennsylvania, he was also reportedly robbed at gunpoint, according to friend Jeramie Malone.
According to local TV station WUSA, Yar’s wife asked him to come home early the night he died, but he told her he needed to work late to pay for rent. He never made it back.
Security camera footage obtained by the station shows what appears to be four kids fleeing the scene of the shooting.
“You just killed him,” one of the children said as they ran.
“He was reaching, bro,” another replied.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Butler, who reportedly served alongside Yar in Afghanistan, pointed out the horrible irony of his killing in an interview with WUSA.
"You just don't have words to describe how you feel about someone who had given so much to his country, not as a citizen, but then comes here and experiences some of the worst behavior our country has to offer," Butler told the station.
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