If nothing else, this fucked-up story demonstrates how fucked-up our society has become.  An 81-year-old Ohio man is charged with murder after shooting an Uber courier driver who arrived at his home to pick up a package for delivery–which is fucked-up enough, but the man had apparently been primed to become paranoid that someone was coming to kill him, and someone sent the Uber driver to his home as he was at peak paranoid.

The story from the Associated Press is a good summary, but there are other details from various sources that paint a really dark picture.  William Brock, a white man, had received anonymous ominous phone calls; some sources report that the caller told Brock he needed to turn over $25,000 or a gang would kill him and/or his family because of some fictional drug deal gone bad that a family member was involved in.  Then the Uber driver, Loletha Hall, a Black woman showed up unexpected at his door.

Dashboard cam from Hall’s call shows Brock pointing a handgun at her.  Having called 9-1-1 after shooting her, Brock said Hall attempted to rob him and told police he repeatedly questioned Hall about who sent her and what they wanted, but she didn’t know what he was talking about. 

Uber is assisting police investigating the incident, including if someone intentionally selected Hall, as a Black woman, to handle the assigned fake delivery to be picked up at the hyped-up and fearful Brock’s house.