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Grieving wife of Lyft driver killed speaks out
The wife of the Lyft driver killed in D.C. opens up to FOX 5’s Stephanie Ramirez in a one-on-one interview with a family member translating. The grieving widow says she thought her family would be safe.
WASHINGTON - They thought they would be safer in the D.C. area is what the wife of the former U.S. Special Forces Afghan interpreter, killed on Monday while driving Lyft in Northeast, told FOX 5 on Friday.
The now grieving widow spoke with FOX 5 as a cousin translated.
Mezhgan Ahmad Yar, 33, told FOX 5 she and her husband were married for 13 years and have four children together, ages 15 months old to 13 years old.
Mezhgan recalled the night her husband, 31-year-old Nasrat Ahmad Yar, went to work an extra Lyft shift.
"She said he came home and he was tired and take a rest one hour, and he go right away. She said ‘don’t go,’" said Mahooba Wafa translating. "He said, ‘I have to go because I have to make money for my children, for rent, for bills, everything. I don’t want you guys to be hungry tomorrow."
Now, Mezghan wants to know why her husband was taken from her. She also told FOX 5 she’s holding the elected leaders of Washington D.C. and the police accountable.
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'It's unfathomable': Lyft driver killed in DC served 20 years as Army interpreter in Afghanistan, friend says
An Army Special Forces veteran says he was shocked to find out that a man he served two tours in Afghanistan with was brutally shot and killed while driving in Northeast D.C. Monday.
Mezghan wiped tears away from her eyes the entire time she spoke with FOX 5. She asked not to have her face shown because she's still concerned about the safety of loved ones who are still in Afghanistan.
"She said in Afghanistan it's the same thing. They’re killing people. It’s a fight and everything, but we didn’t know America is the same," said the cousin translating.
Mezhgan described how her family spent months in hiding, sometimes without food or water, as they tried to escape the Taliban after the 2021 U.S. military pullout and government collapse.
Their lives were in danger.
Nasrat Ahmad Yar served for about a decade as an Interpreter for U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan. On Thursday, U.S. Army Veteran Matthew Butler told FOX 5 Nasrat had started working for the U.S. government at around 10-years-old, handling smaller jobs around Bagram Airfield before becoming an interpreter.
Friends helped relocate the family to Philadelphia, but there was an incident, so the family tells FOX 5 they moved to Alexandria about eight months ago, thinking they’d be safer in the D.C. area.
FOX 5 was told Nasrat was working as a tow truck driver during the day and taking extra Lyft shifts at night, so he could provide for his wife and four children. He also wanted to save money to own his own towing company.
The victim’s wife says Nasrat routinely sent money back to help family members still in Afghanistan. Mezhgan told FOX 5 her husband was very kind and tried to help everyone.
Lyft releases statement on driver found shot to death in DC
Lyft is offering condolences to the family of one of its drivers who was found shot to death in Northeast on Monday.
In surveillance video, the victim’s widow heard that fatal gunshot on 11th Street Northeast early Monday morning – and saw, what appeared and sounded like four younger suspects running away down a nearby alley.
"He was reaching bruh" is what you hear one suspect say more than once. Mezhgan says she just wants answers.
"America is the safe place in the world," she said. "Why the young guy has like pistol or gun and kill, why? And my husband, what he done? My husband was a very nice guy, why they killed my husband?"
A funeral service is planned for Nasrat Ahmad Yar on Saturday.
The family has also created a second fundraising page on Facebook to help.
The GoFundMe account FOX 5 previously shared has already raised $156,000 dollars. One person sharing their deepest sympathies wrote that the family "lost their beloved husband and father; We lost an American hero."