The death of Mohammed Al Hejoj brought the tight-knit community of Chicago limousine drivers even closer.
“Everybody loved him, everybody respected him, everybody was there for him just for the fact that he’s always there for people,” said Amer Alrifaee, a fellow limo driver and one of Al Hejoj’s closest friends.
Al Hejoj was driving his black 2017 Cadillac Escalade ESV with four passengers in the 1700 block of North Lotus Avenue in the Austin neighborhood about 5:40 p.m. Sunday when a witness saw the car stop, then heard several gunshots and spotted the four passengers jumping out of the car and fleeing, Chicago police and Alrifaee said.
Al Hejoj, 39, was shot multiple times and was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died of gunshot wounds, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled a homicide.
Police recovered a handgun a few feet away from the car, but no arrests were reported.
Al Hejoj, of the Dunning neighborhood, was married and had two young children. He moved to the U.S. about 15 years ago from Jordan and had been a limo driver in Chicago for more than 10 years.
One of the first friends he made after moving to the U.S. was Alrifaee, who had been in the limo business since 2000.
“One time he told me, ‘You’re a role model. I want to help people like you do. I want to do this, I want to do that. I want to help new drivers,’” Alrifaee said, adding that Al Hejoj quickly became a mentor himself.
Al Hejoj would make extra efforts to reach out to new drivers and give them tips on being a chauffeur and explain the customer service aspect of the job.
He also brought the industry closer by creating a community group on WhatsApp, which grew to more than 1,000 members. Area drivers communicate and help each other, for example, covering for a driver who isn’t available to pick up a client, Alrifaee said.
After a day of driving, Al Hejoj would often meet up with other drivers for a bite to eat.
“We loved to hang out. We loved to go out to eat all the time,” Alrifaee said.
Kabobi, a Persian and Mediterranean restaurant in Albany Park, “was our hangout spot,” Alrifaee said. “That was one of the last restaurants we all went to.”
Alrifaee launched a GoFundMe for Al Hejoj’s funeral expenses. It had raised more than $45,000 as of Monday night.
Alrifaee didn’t know many details of Sunday’s attack, other than that it happened while Al Hejoj was on the job.
He said Al Hejoj could have been put in contact with customers through a number of routes, including taking a call directly from somebody or booking a ride through his company.
Al Hejoj also provided rides through Uber Black, which matches riders with top-rated drivers in luxury cars.
Alrifaee expressed concerns about not only being a driver in Chicago, but specifically using rideshare apps. He said drivers have run into issues with rideshare apps because, in some cases, “people create fake accounts to carjack drivers and [for] armed robberies.”
Carjackings have surged across the city over the last few years, increasing by 200% in the last three years and by nearly 50% since last year, according to police data.
“With everything going on in Chicago, I leave my house, and it feels like it’s the last time I’m going to see my family with the things that I see on the road, the things that I hear about,” Alrifaee said. “All of the carjackings, I don’t feel safe, to be honest, driving in the city of Chicago.”
Contributing: Mary Norkol
