Edmund Sowah was disciplined, his colleagues said yesterday -- a quiet and humble man who worked many hours a day. As one of 600 cabdrivers in Prince George's County, he was accustomed to the grueling shifts, the late-night rides from one dangerous street to another.
As he began work Wednesday night, Sowah, 45, knew that in the past two weeks, at least a dozen cabbies had been robbed in Prince George's, most at gunpoint. But he was undeterred, said his boss, Carl Schuettler, general manager of Silver Cab Co. in Lanham. He said Sowah was the type who "would not put up a fight if someone wanted his money."
Someone possibly wanted all the money Sowah carried with him Wednesday, usually only about $50, Schuettler said.
Sowah's cab was found about 10:20 p.m. in the 400 block of St. Margaret Drive in Capitol Heights with its engine running and a back door open, police said. It had crashed into a parked car, and Sowah was slumped over the steering wheel, a gunshot wound to his head. He never regained consciousness, police said, and he was pronounced dead late Thursday at Prince George's Hospital Center.
Police said they know of no suspect or motive in the slaying. But given the circumstances, they said, they were investigating the possibility that Sowah, of the 1800 block of Glendora Drive in District Heights, was robbed before he was shot. Police said his wallet was not taken, but they did not known whether he had cash elsewhere in the taxi.
"We are absolutely concerned about the safety of our cabdrivers and are working hard to solve this case," said Cpl. Diane Richardson, a county police spokeswoman.
She said the slaying, the county's 13th of the year, occurred a short distance from the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant Metro station. She said Sowah may have picked up a passenger from the station. She asked anyone with information about the killing to call the department's homicide unit at 301-772-4925.
Sowah is the second cabdriver slain in seven months in Prince George's. In July, Arshad Mahmood, also 45, was killed on an Oxon Hill street. He also was found inside his taxi, its engine running. He had been dispatched moments before the 11 p.m. shooting to the Southern Avenue Metro station, on the District-Prince George's line. That case has not been solved.
Including Sowah, at least eight cabdrivers have been killed in the county since 2000.
The most recent armed robbery of a cabdriver occurred Thursday, while Sowah lay unconscious at the hospital, police said.
A driver, who was not identified, was robbed of his wallet shortly after 4 p.m. in the 6100 block of Marlen Lane in Temple Hills. Police said the driver had picked up his two assailants at the Branch Avenue Metro station.
