Man shot, killed by passenger while working 2nd job as Lyft driver, family says

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE/Gray News) - Police in Louisiana say a man was shot and killed while working for Lyft and picking up a passenger.

WVUE reports that 32-year-old Marvin Enrique Bardales Valle picked up 19-year-old passenger Tarius Tully on March 9 with the encounter ending in an overnight fatal shooting.

New Orleans police said they were able to track down Tully and arrest him on March 14. He is facing a second-degree murder charge.

“It’s something so, so painful,” Valle’s cousin, Isaac Bardales Lopez, said. “We believe he was forced to drive at gunpoint to his location and that’s where he was shot and killed.”

After the shooting, family members are left with memories and videos of Valle playing guitar and loving his family.

Lopez said his cousin’s death has been hard to grasp for him, and what makes things more challenging is the cost to give him a proper burial more than 1,000 miles away in Honduras, his home country.

“The total cost is going to be $12,500. That will be for a small funeral for a family that is living here and to send him over to Honduras will cost $7,900,” Lopez said.

Loved ones said Valle’s journey to the U.S. was in search of the American dream. He worked in construction during the day and worked Lyft for extra cash. He would frequently send money back to his mother in Honduras, but now she is heartbroken after losing her only son.

“Her wish right now is to see her son one last time,” Lopez said. “She always wanted him to come back home but not this way.”

Dillard University criminologist Ashraf Esmail said without tangible evidence of progress, New Orleans could expect more fatal shootings.

“We are not seeing a decrease. We just started the new year the way we started last year,” Esmail said. You can’t really be optimistic right now because you’re not given any reason to be optimistic.”

As Valle’s family remembers him, they urge others to cherish the time they have with one another.

“We need to show love. We need to show sincerity,” Lopez said. “We need to get together and show affection. My cousin sat down, and we ate together, I didn’t know that was going to be the last time I was going to see him.”

Family members are raising money through GoFundMe to cover the cost of transporting Valle’s remains to Honduras. They said any remaining money would also go to his mother.

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