In the early morning hours of July 26, 2019, Noman Saleemi, a 29-year-old livery cab driver from Pakistan, was tragically killed in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. Saleemi, who was described by his family as quiet and hardworking, was just two days away from starting a new job at a pharmaceutical company. He was also engaged to be married.
On that fateful night, Saleemi was on the job when he was dispatched to a fare. His last known location was Williams Avenue.
Concerns arose when his dispatcher at Everywhere Car Service could not reach him for several hours. The New York Police Department was alerted to the sound of a gunshot in the area by its ShotSpotter system at approximately 3:15 a.m. When officers arrived at the corner of Williams and Atlantic Avenues, they discovered Saleemi's body on the sidewalk. He had been shot in the head. His red Nissan Altima was missing, and his wallet was found several blocks away.
The investigation into the death of the young man, who was working to earn extra money for his family, quickly became a priority. A month later, on August 16, 2019, police arrested Terrence Reece, a 32-year-old man from Bedford-Stuyvesant, in connection with the murder. The evidence presented during the trial revealed a harrowing sequence of events. Reece had gotten into Saleemi's cab and, following an argument over the fare, forced him to drive to a remote street corner.
There, in a cruel and senseless act of violence, Reece ordered Noman Saleemi out of his vehicle and forced him to kneel. Reece then shot Saleemi once in the cheek, and after a pause, shot him again in the back of the head as he lay on the ground. After the execution-style killing, Reece stole Saleemi's wallet, which contained less than $100, and fled the scene in the victim's car. The stolen vehicle was later found parked outside the residence of Reece's wife, where investigators found his DNA and fingerprints inside. His wife had also disposed of the murder weapon at his behest.
In a trial that brought the painful details of Saleemi's final moments to light, a jury found Terrence Reece guilty of first-degree murder on January 31, 2025. On March 7, 2025, a Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice sentenced Reece to life in prison without the possibility of parole, ensuring that the man responsible for the brutal and needless death of a man on the cusp of a new and promising chapter in his life would be held accountable for his actions.
