Police Identify Suspect In Cab Driver's Shooting

STATESVILLE, N.C.,None — A 29-year-old man will be charged with murder in the shooting death of a cab driver, police said.

A warrant has been issued for Thomas Garland Arndt, police said. Arndt was found early Tuesday morning in a crashed taxi cab with the deceased driver, 49-year-old Richard Jones.

SLIDESHOW: Scene Of Statesville Cab Crash

The initial call came in as a car accident, police said. Officers were called to South Tradd Street around 1:40 a.m. A Lewis taxi cab was overturned and a power pole had been knocked down.

Jones had been shot in the back of the head, police said.

Arndt was injured in the crash and taken to a local hospital for treatment. He will be taken into police custody once he's discharged, police said.

"This is senseless," Marva Houpe, a friend of Jones, said. "He has five daughters and three grandkids that are going to miss him. They're going to miss him dearly."

Jones' sister, Pamela Anderson, said she was stunned by the shooting.

"(I'm) just in shock," she said. "We were all together yesterday. I can't believe someone would do that. If they wanted the money, they didn't have to shoot him."

Anderson said her brother had been driving a cab for two years.

WSOC