Video: Tacoma cabbie robbed and shot in Puyallup

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PUYALLUP, Wash. - Police have arrested a man suspected of robbing and shooting a cab driver early Thursday morning in Puyallup.

According to police, the Yellow taxi picked up the man at the Emerald Queen casino in Tacoma and took him to Puyallup where the driver, 36-year-old Frazdag Eltahir, was shot three times.

Eltahir was able to call 911 to say he had been shot. 

Police say they arrived on the scene within two minutes. Officers located the suspect about five blocks away from the cab.

"Officers detained the suspect who stated that he had a firearm," said Lt. Dalan Brokaw of the Puyallup Police Department. "That firearm was recovered from the suspect and he was transported to the Puyallup jail."

Eltahir was conscious and talking at the scene.  "The cab driver stated the subject demanded money," said Brokaw.

Brokaw said Eltahir was taken to St. Joseph's hospital in Tacoma by an ambulance and was later airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Eltahir's wife, Natalie Davis-Eltahir, says he's undergone surgery at a Seattle hospital.

She says he has bullet wounds in his right arm, right leg and abdomen and that doctors told her it would take him a year to recover.

The wife told a Seattle television station her husband is an immigrant from Sudan who works seven days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day to provide for his family. They have a 2-year-old son and her daughter from a previous relationship.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.