‘Felt like hours of terror’: Metro-east Uber driver lost eye in shooting

The Uber driver shot in his face while in the Columbia Police Department parking lot as part of a kidnapping plot has lost his left eye and suffers vision problems with his right eye, the Columbia police chief said Monday.

Allen Lalk, 51, is recovering from the shooting, Columbia Police Chief Jason Donjon said in a news conference at the police department.

Despite his injuries, Lalk “sounded good” when Donjon talked to him Sunday night.

“Lalk is a hockey coach — in fact, he’s coached both of my two boys,” Donjon said. “I know him and his family, so I called and he sounded good … he did lose his left eye and is having vision problems with the other one.”

The two suspects arrested shortly after the shooting were ordered by Circuit Judge Chris Hitzemann to remain in custody until their trial during a detention hearing Monday at the Monroe County Courthouse in Waterloo.

Monroe County State’s Attorney Ryan Webb told Hitzemann that the ordeal must have “felt like hours of terror” for Lalk, an Uber driver who pickup the two suspects in North St. Louis County at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday.

The suspects, who both had guns, ordered Lalk to drive to his Columbia home allegedly so they could steal a Jeep that Lalk had there because they could not know how to drive the Acura, which has a manual transmission, authorities said. The suspects saw that Lalk had a Jeep key on his key chain.

Instead of going home, Lalk drove the two suspects to the Columbia Police department, a decision Webb described as “heroic.”

“They targeted this man’s home,” Webb said.

Donjon noted that given the armed violence of the two suspects, he, like Lalk, would not have trusted that they wanted to go to Lalk’s Columbia home just for a different vehicle.

The on-duty Columbia dispatcher heard the gunfire and saw the suspects run from Lalk’s 2023 Acura, Donjon said.

The suspect charged in connection with shooting Lalk is a juvenile being charged as an adult due to the seriousness of the case.

Robert Fayne, 17, of Cahokia Heights was charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, vehicular invasion, attempted aggravated vehicular hijacking, aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated kidnapping.

Kareem Weaver, 20, was charged with vehicular invasion, attempted aggravated vehicular hijacking, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated kidnapping.

Fayne, whose name was not initially released by police because of his age, was being held in a juvenile detention center in Belleville Monday while Weaver was being held in the Monroe County Jail.

After Lalk was shot, the suspects then fled on foot toward Bolm-Schuhkraft City Park and disappeared into a wooded area. Police and Columbia EMS workers immediately began treating Lalk and transported him to a local hospital.

Lalk was listed in critical condition Saturday but was expected to survive.

The suspects were arrested about 45 minutes after Lalk was shot when they were spotted leaving a wooded area and getting into a GMC SUV that police had been tracking via a drone equipped with a camera. The drone officer began tracking the GMC because the two females in it had driven by the police department and looked lost, Donjon said.

Police stopped the SUV and all four occupants were arrested. A gun also was recovered, police said.

Webb said this is the first case he has prosecuted in which a drone was used in the capture of the suspects.

“We only got our drone a couple months ago,” Donjon said. “We’ve used it for displays and missing children. But this was the first one we had to use it to actually catch a suspect.”

Support for Uber driver

Donjon acknowledged the wide support Lalk has received since he was shot.

“This is a great, close knit community,” Donjon said.

A GoFundMe page for Lalk has raised over $54,000 as of Monday night.

The organizer of the page declined to comment but confirmed that the page he set up is for Lalk.

“This GoFundMe has been set up to help cover Allen’s medical expenses, therapy and any other financial burdens caused by this senseless act of violence,” the page states. “Any donation, no matter the size, will go a long way in helping Allen heal and regain a sense of safety and normalcy.”

Webb said Lalk was trying to make some extra money as an Uber driver when he fell victim to a “heinous” and “thought-out, planned attack.”

Webb added that the suspects “nearly killed” Lalk.

Police initiallly reported Lalk’s age as 52 but Donjon said Lalk is 51.

The Columbia Hockey Club released a statement about Lalk’s shooting.

“Our coach, Allen, was a victim of a senseless act of violence while driving for Uber early Saturday morning,” according to the statement.

“We are grateful for his bravery and quick actions during a recent incident, where he showed incredible heroism by driving to the station, likely saving lives, and risking his own health and well-being to protect others.”

A spokesperson for Uber said the company has reached out to Lalk “to offer our support” but details of this support were not released.

“The reported details are terrifying,” Uber said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the driver and their loved ones as they begin to heal from this senseless act. We’re relieved that the suspects have been apprehended and are standing by to assist law enforcement however needed.”

Suspects’ detention hearings

Webb told Hitzemann that surveillance video at the police department recorded the moment Lalk was shot.

The defense attorneys for Fayne and Weaver asked Hitzemann to release them from custody but the judge rejected the request.

Monroe County Public Defender Arthur Morris, the attorney for Fayne, told Hitzemann, “He’s in high school. He’s a junior in high school. His entire family is here.”

Morris said Fayne could “finish his education online” if he was allowed to be on electronic monitoring at his home before his trial.

Mark Peebles of Belleville, the attorney for Weaver, told Hitzemann that Weaver does not have any “violent crimes” on his record and that there was no evidence that Weaver “fired a weapon.”

Peebles said Weaver is from Venice while a police news release had stated he was from Collinsville.

Hitzemann ruled that the allegations show Fayne and Weaver would pose a threat to the community if they were released.

In reviewing the evidence offered by Webb, Hitzemann noted the surveillance video shows the “flash bang” of the moment Lalk was shot in the police department parking lot and that this was a planned attack.

Illinois judges have been conducting detention hearings since September 2023 for people charged with serious offenses. If a judge considers a person dangerous to the community, the person can be remanded to the county jail until their trial, according to the revamped criminal justice system that eliminated cash bail as part of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T, Act.

Fayne and Weaver each sat quietly during their respective hearings. The next court date for Fayne and Weaver has been set for July 1.

Fayne’s grandfather attended the hearing and declined to comment after it.

Weaver’s mother also attended the hearing with Weaver’s young child, his nephew and his sister. She was able to briefly speak with Weaver during a recess and after the hearing said she trusted God that her son would tell the truth.

This story was originally published June 2, 2025 at 12:42 PM.