Inset: Cesar Tejada (GoFundMe). Background: Surveillance footage showing 15-year-old Christian Simmons allegedly driving Cesar Tejada's SUV after cops say he shot the Uber driver in the back and dumped his body in the street (WSB/YouTube).
A Georgia teen is charged as an adult with murder for fatally shooting an Uber driver and father of two in the back before dumping his body in the street and taking off with his vehicle, cops say.
The driver has been described by cops and his wife as someone who was "just out trying to make extra money for his family" when he was killed.
"He started his routine picking up a random passenger unaware of what was coming," Cesar Tejada's wife, Evelyn, writes in a GoFundMe description.
Police say 15-year-old Christian Simmons, of Lilburn, was the passenger and targeted Tejada in what's being labeled a deadly "carjacking" by local officials. The teen had no connection to Tejada other than being his Uber rider early Thursday morning.
A Ring camera allegedly captured the shooting on video.
"At 4:13 a.m., Mr. Tejada went to pick up a customer on Rangewood Drive in Lilburn," explained Capt. Dena Pauly of the Lawrenceville Police Department at a Friday press conference. "From there, Mr. Tejada drove the suspect to the 600 block of Groveland Parkway. That's where the Ring camera shows the suspect exit the back seat, go to the front door … where Mr. Tejada was shot."
Police say Simmons blasted the 58-year-old in the back, dumped him face down in the road, and then took off in his SUV. He returned to the neighborhood and crime scene about 10 minutes later before leaving again, according to Pauly.
"When they arrived at the set destination, that young man not only took his life, he dumped him on the street as if he was disposing of something of no value," Tejada's wife says in the GoFundMe description. "He just left him laying on the ground and left the scene after taking his cellphone, his car and the most valuable thing he had, his life. For an unknown reason he drove back to the place where he had left him, stopped for a few seconds and just drove home like nothing had ever happened."
Police were able to track Simmons down using his Uber information and a Flock camera system to trace where Tejada's vehicle was left. The teen allegedly left the SUV in the same neighborhood where he was originally picked up, which turned out to be an area where Simmons was staying that night, cops say.
Authorities responded and saw the youth "walking down the road" after exiting a home in the neighborhood and took him into custody, according to Pauly. The area where Simmons asked Tejada to drop him off is home to some "friends" of his, Pauly said.
"We do not have any other motive other than Mr. Simmons wanted the vehicle," Pauly told reporters Friday. Tejada's wife says he started his shift that morning as he always does.
"Cesar's alarm went off at the same time it did every day to go to work at 3:30am," she recounts. "This was his usual set time to wake up and go to work for Uber. He left the house not knowing that it would be his last time."
Describing Tejada, Pauly said, "He was just out trying to make extra money for his family. He was summoned to Lilburn to pick up Mr. Simmons."
Tejada's wife describes him as "an exemplary man and excellent husband" who was also "a great father" to their two children.
"He wasn't the type of person to create controversy, he was very calm, composed," she explains. "He lived a quiet life working hard to provide for his family. He was the main breadwinner of the household and now my family has been left without the security, love and protection of Cesar."
Simmons is currently being held without bond and is awaiting his next court date.
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