A group of Argentine football fans have described the moment their Uber driver was shot in the leg by occupants of another vehicle as they travelled to watch their national team play at the FIFA World Cup in Kansas City.
No motive has been established for the attack and no arrests have been made, the fans told Argentine newspaper La Nación, with their remarks translated by Newsweek. The frightening scene unfolded on Wednesday, 17 June, less than 20 minutes before the 8 p.m. local time kick-off between Argentina and Algeria at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
“They shot at the car as we were coming,” one fan said. “They shot at the Uber twice.” Another added: “The car was moving, another car came by and shot at it twice. At first we thought it was a punctured tyre — I didn’t see it.”
The passengers initially mistook the sound of gunfire for a blown tyre. It was only when the Uber braked sharply that one of the fans noticed the driver was injured. “He braked, and I saw his leg — the guy had a hole in it,” the fan said. “We called the police. It was horrible.”
The group provided statements to officers at the scene and were then driven to the stadium in police patrol cars so they could still watch the match, where Lionel Messi scored a hat‑trick in Argentina’s 3-0 victory.
According to the fans, police told them it was the third such incident they had responded to that day. One of the supporters claimed the same thing had already happened to three other cars in the area, though this has not been independently confirmed.
Kansas City’s violent streak
The attack came against a backdrop of persistently high violent crime in Kansas City, which is hosting six World Cup matches this summer. The city ranked fourth in the nation for violent crime rate among cities with more than 100,000 residents, according to FBI data for the most recent year available.
Kansas City has recorded some of its deadliest years in recent memory. Official figures show 185 homicides in 2023, the highest ever, following 182 killings in 2020 and 171 in 2022. However, the city has also seen notable reductions: homicides fell by 5% in 2025 to the lowest level since 2018, non‑fatal shootings dropped by 31% and robberies by 27%, according to local law‑enforcement data. The homicide clearance rate reached 75%, well above the national average of 58%.
Mayor Quinton Lucas has attributed the recent declines to the work of community groups focused on deterring crime and interrupting cycles of violence. Police Chief Stacey Graves has cited an increase in officers and a citywide focused deterrence programme known as SAVE KC, run by the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Perhaps the most notorious recent incident came in February 2025, when a gunman opened fire during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory celebration. Local radio host Lisa Lopez-Galvan was killed by a stray bullet and around two dozen other people were wounded, though none fatally.
The shooting of the Uber driver on Wednesday is the latest in a series of violent events near World Cup facilities. There have been other gunfire incidents — including one near the England national team’s base where nine people were injured, and a fatal shooting near the Argentina team’s hotel — though authorities have said there is no evidence linking them to the tournament or to any of the delegations.
