WASHINGTON —

A former Afghan interpreter who immigrated with his family to America in 2021 was shot and killed early Monday in Washington, D.C., while on an extra shift as a Lyft driver, and police now are searching for suspects, authorities and a charity said.

Nasrat Ahmad Yar, 31, was found with a gunshot wound just after midnight Monday in his vehicle by officers responding to reports of an unconscious person, police said in a news release. He was taken to a hospital and died.

Ahmad Yar, an interpreter who served alongside U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan for a decade before the Taliban takeover, had been working an extra rideshare shift when he was slain, according to a verified GoFundMe page.

Four people ran away from the scene shortly after he was shot, video released by police shows. No suspects have been named.

Police are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest, the release said.

“Our hearts are with Mr. Nasrat’s loved ones as they confront this unspeakable tragedy,” a Lyft spokesperson told CNN in a statement. “We have reached out to his family to offer our support and are in contact with law enforcement to assist with their investigation.”

CNN has reached out to U.S. Army Special Forces for comment.

Family member: ‘He was working to help others’

Ahmad Yar brought his family to the U.S. in 2021 after the Afghan government collapsed, according to the GoFundMe page. He was the sole provider for his wife and four children, ages 15 months to 13 years, the crowdfunding page said.

Ahmad Yar wanted his children to live in a safe place that would allow his sons and daughters to receive an education, his cousin Mohammad Ahmadi told CNN.

When speaking about Ahmad Yar’s decision to serve as an interpreter alongside the U.S. Army, Ahmadi said his cousin felt it was the right thing to do.

“He believed there should be more options in Afghanistan for girls, women and kids so they could go to school and live in a peaceful country,” Ahmadi said.

The family had been living in Virginia for the past eight months. Ahmadi said.

“His family is in a lot of need right now,” Ahmadi said. “On the night of the tragedy, my cousin decided to work an extra shift because they didn’t have enough money to pay the rent.”

The verified GoFundMe set up to help Ahmad Yar’s family has raised over $165,000 as of Friday afternoon.

Two ride-sharing companies have announced that they would cover drivers' legal fees if they are sued under Texas’ new abortion law.

Lyft and Uber said on Friday that they would cover the legal fees of their drivers if they are sued for driving someone to a clinic to obtain an abortion.

The new law, which went into effect on Wednesday, bans anyone from getting an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a time period that many women don't know if they’re pregnant.

Under the new law, patients won't be sued, but those who aid the patient in any way of obtaining the procedure, paying for it, or transporting them there could face a possible $10,000 fine.

“Drivers are never responsible for monitoring where their riders go or why," Lyft said in a statement. "Imagine being a driver and not knowing if you are breaking the law by giving someone a ride.”

Shortly after Lyft's announcement, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a tweet that the company would also do the same.

"Drivers shouldn’t be put at risk for getting people where they want to go," Khosrowshahi said. "Team Uber is in too and will cover legal fees in the same way."

News of Lyft and Uber's plans comes after Texas-based dating app company Bumble, and Match CEO Shar Dubey announced Thursday that they each were setting up relief funds.

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Uber and Lyft have teamed up to create a database of drivers ousted from their ride-hailing services for complaints about sexual assault and other crimes that have raised passenger-safety concerns for years.

The clearinghouse will initially consist of drivers expelled by the ride-hailing rivals in the U.S. but will be open to other companies that deploy workers to perform services such as delivering groceries or take-out orders from restaurants.

According to The Associated Press, the companies will use third-party company HireRight, to oversee the background checks.

The safety program follows through on a promise that Uber made 15 months ago when it revealed that more than 3,000 sexual assaults had been reported on its service in the U.S. during 2018.

The AP reported that passenger's information will not be shared in the database in order to protect privacy.

According to The AP, if a driver is dismissed, the reason they were booted will be arranged into six categories: attempted non-consensual sexual penetration; non-consensual touching of a sexual body part; non-consensual kissing of a sexual body part; non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part; non-consensual sexual penetration; and fatal physical assaults.

A Black-owned rideshare service by women for women is being rolled out in Portland. It's called Go Girl Ride.

The owner's mission is to provide a service for women and non-binary people to ride and feel safe.

Founder Trenelle Doyle says the idea was sparked while she was an Uber driver and would hear stories about people feeling unsafe in other rides.

She says it's also something she experiences firsthand. Pairing that with rising sex trafficking crimes, Doyle says she wants to inspire change.

Go Girl Ride is launching on Juneteenth.

Doyle says that's the perfect launch date because it's about the liberation of Black people.

After being rolled out in Portland, the ride-share service will expand to other cities that have high rates of sex trafficking.

Eliana Moreno and Alex Livingston at Newsy first reported this story.

As more states and cities ease COVID-19 regulations in businesses and sporting events, people are coming across one major problem: getting there.

There is a massive shortage of rental cars, and major rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber are offering heavy incentives for drivers so they can overcome their own shortages.

According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, production last year dropped 19 percent in the U.S. Some in the industry called it the worst crisis to ever impact the automotive industry.

The drop in cars led to a drop in rental availability. Models in rental company lots were older and they were scarce, and if you absolutely had to rent, prices were inflated.

All of those drops have led to a rise in profits for current ridesharing drivers like Uber and Lyft.

“Trying to stop for lunch is virtually impossible,” said Jerry MacKissock, who has been driving for a rideshare company since late March. “You’ve got two miles to go on your ride and they are dinging you to do another ride.”

Since MacKissock started, he says his weekly profits have steadily risen. In the week ending April 19, he says he earned $1,300 for driving 46 hours.

“It has been extraordinary,” said MacKissock. “The expectation was to replace the money I was making when I retired and it’s been three times that.”

It does not hurt that Uber and Lyft have promised massive incentives to overcome their own shortages. Drivers stopped driving because of slower pandemic business. which has not helped accommodate the 80 percent rise in demand Lyft reported last month and 76 percent rise in demand Uber reported.

To help meet the demand, Uber said it will spend $250 million in incentives to drivers to attract more.

“The $250 million driver stimulus will go directly to drivers who start driving again as well as new drivers who join Uber,” said Uber spokesperson Kayla Whaling in an e-mailed statement. “The money will take the form of special bonuses and new guarantees. It will be in place for the next several months. This is to help meet the returning rising demand, so we are reinvesting in bringing back drivers who are an essential part of their communities and have been vital in delivering food and goods, and helping get their cities moving again.”