What we know about the shooting of an Uber driver in Ohio and the scam surrounding it

It was a common scam that ended with an uncommon outcome, tragically in an Ohio driveway.

William J. Brock fatally shot an Uber driver because he wrongly assumed she was part of a scheme to extract $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said this week. Lo-Letha Hall was a victim of the same con, summoned by the grifters to Brock's house to retrieve a purported package for delivery.

Brock later told investigators he believed Hall arrived to get the money the scammers wanted.

He is now facing murder charges, to which he's pleaded not guilty. Hall's family is grieving. And Uber is helping investigators to try to catch whoever was behind the attempted swindle.

The grift is commonly known as a grandparent scam or fraud, exploiting older people’s love for their family, experts say. Callers claim to be anyone from grandchildren to police, telling victims something terrible happened and that their younger relative needs money.

Here's what we know about the shooting and the investigation so far:

Brock, 81, received scam calls the morning of March 25 at his home in South Charleston, a town of about 1,800 people between Dayton and Columbus. The calls regarded an incarcerated relative and “turned to threats and a demand for money," according to a statement from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

While Brock was on the phone, Hall got a request through the Uber app to pick up a package from Brock's house for delivery, the sheriff's office said. Hall, 61, of Columbus, was unaware of the attempted scam.

“Upon being contacted by Ms. Hall, Mr. Brock produced a gun and held her at gunpoint, making demands for identities of the subjects he had spoken with on the phone,” the sheriff's office said.

Hall was unarmed and never threatened Brock or made any demands of him, the sheriff's office said.

Brock took Hall's cellphone and refused to let her leave, the sheriff's office said. When she tried to get back into her car, Brock shot her. He shot her a second time and a third time during subsequent scuffles.

Brock then called 911 to report he shot someone on his property who was trying to rob him.

Police body camera footage shows him briefly discussing what he said had happened.

“I’m sure glad to see you guys out here because I’ve been on this phone for a couple hours with this guy trying to say to me I had a nephew in jail and had a wreck in Charleston and just kept hanging on and needing bond money," Brock said. "And this woman was supposed to get it.”

The footage shows investigators discussing $12,000 sitting on a table in Brock’s house.

The footage also shows a Clark County Sheriff's Office detective in Brock's house talking on the phone with a man who was talking to Brock earlier. He identified himself as an officer and told the detective, “You're going to be in trouble."

When the detective identified herself as an actual police officer, the phone disconnected. During a subsequent phone call with the man, the detective told him the Uber driver was in a serious accident, in the hospital and “not doing well."

The man told the detective he'd be there in 20 minutes. He was not.

Brock was indicted on Monday of charges of murder, assault and kidnapping. He posted $200,000 bail and was released from the Clark County Jail on Wednesday. His attorney, Paul Kavanagh, did not immediately return an email seeking comment on Friday.

Grandparent scams have become increasingly common in the last 10 to 15 years — in part because of the abundance of personal information available about people online, said Anthony Pratkanis, an emeritus psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Criminals retrieve specific details about someone's relative on social media and use the information to convince victims that their loved one is in trouble, said Pratkanis, whose research includes fraud crimes.

“Basically what the criminal is doing is taking advantage of our human nature," he said. "You're in a panic state, high emotional arousal. It's a fear appeal. And the best way to get rid of that fear is to give the criminal that money.”

Fraudsters typically prefer financial transactions that don't require physical proximity, such as wire transfers, gift cards or cryptocurrency, Pratkanis said. This case is unusual because the scammers deployed Hall as an unsuspecting money mule.

“Most people in today’s kind of scams don’t really have interactions with the criminal — there’s a distance,” Pratkanis said. “But when there isn’t, there’s an opportunity for the anger of being victimized to cause the victim to take action.”

Uber said Wednesday that it was helping investigators look into an account that sent Hall to Brock's home. The ride-hailing company described Hall's death as “a horrific tragedy."

An obituary for Hall described her as the parent of a son and a stepson, a devoted member of her church and a talented cook known for delicious pound cakes.

She retired from Ohio’s Regional Income Tax Agency and also worked in behavioral health, at a school and for Uber. She studied horticulture at Ohio State and started a janitorial business.

At a memorial service that was streamed online, her son Mario Hall spoke of how close they were even though they lived in different states, often speaking on the phone multiple times a day. He said they "had a bond like no other.”

“Thank you for all your sacrifices and all the things you have instilled in me,” he said. "You are the best mom that anyone could ask for. And I promise to continue to make you proud."

In this image taken from Uber dashcam video released by the Clark County, Ohio, Sheriff's Office, William Brock, right, holds a weapon to Uber driver Loletha Hall outside his home in South Charleston, Ohio, on March 25, 2024. Brock, 81, who authorities say fatally shot Hall who he thought was trying to rob him after scam phone calls deceived them both, was indicted on a murder charge, Monday, April 15, 2024, by a Clark County grand jury. Hall had no knowledge of the calls made to Brock, authorities said. (Clark County Sheriff's Office via AP)

This booking photo released by the Clark County, Ohio, Sheriff's Office, shows William Brock, an Ohio man who authorities say fatally shot an Uber driver who he thought was trying to rob him after scam phone calls deceived them both. Brock, 81, is charged with murder, felonious assault and kidnapping in the March 25, 2024, shooting death of Uber driver Loletha Hall. (Clark County Sheriff's Office via AP)

What we know about the shooting of an Uber driver in Ohio and the scam surrounding it

What we know about the shooting of an Uber driver in Ohio and the scam surrounding it

In this image taken from Uber dashcam video released by the Clark County, Ohio, Sheriff's Office, William Brock, right, holds a weapon to Uber driver Loletha Hall outside his home in South Charleston, Ohio, on March 25, 2024. Brock, 81, who authorities say fatally shot Hall who he thought was trying to rob him after scam phone calls deceived them both, was indicted on a murder charge, Monday, April 15, 2024, by a Clark County grand jury. Hall had no knowledge of the calls made to Brock, authorities said. (Clark County Sheriff's Office via AP)

PHOENIX (AP) — Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has relegated a Civil War-era ban on most abortions to the past by signing a repeal bill Thursday.

Hobbs says the move is just the beginning of a fight to protect reproductive health care in Arizona. But the repeal may not take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, in June or July. Abortion rights advocates hope a court will step in to prevent that outcome.

The effort to repeal the long-dormant law, which bans all abortions except those done to save a patient’s life, won final legislative approval Wednesday in a 16-14 vote of the Senate, as two GOP lawmakers joined with Democrats.

Hobbs denounced “a ban that was passed by 27 men before Arizona was even a state, at a time when America was at war over the right to own slaves, a time before women could even vote."

“This ban needs to be repealed, I said it in 2022 when Roe was overturned, and I said it again and again as governor,” Hobbs said.

The vote extended for hours as senators described their motivations in personal, emotional and even biblical terms — including graphic descriptions of abortion procedures and amplified audio recordings of a fetal heartbeat, along with warnings against the dangers of “legislating religious beliefs.”

At the same time Wednesday, supporters of a South Dakota abortion rights initiative submitted far more signatures than required to make the ballot this fall, while in Florida a ban took effect against most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they are pregnant.

Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, an opponent of the near-total abortion ban, has said the earliest the dormant abortion-ban law could be enforced is June 27, though she has asked the state’s highest court to block enforcement until sometime in late July. But the anti-abortion group defending the ban, Alliance Defending Freedom, maintains county prosecutors can begin enforcing it once the Supreme Court’s decision becomes final, which hasn’t yet occurred.

The near-total ban provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. In a ruling last month, the Arizona Supreme Court suggested doctors could be prosecuted under the law first approved in 1864, which carries a sentence of two to five years in prison for anyone who assists in an abortion.

A repeal means that a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona’s prevailing abortion law.

A crowd of lawmakers — mostly women — joined the governor at the signing ceremony. Some were gripped by emotion as they cheered the repeal and said more is needed to protect rights to reproductive health care.

Former Democratic state Rep. Athena Salman celebrated approval of the repeal she initially proposed in 2019.

Salman, who resigned in January to lead an abortion rights group, said she can’t stop thinking about her daughters. “Future generations will not have to live under the restrictions and the interference that we have had to experience,” she said.

Arizona Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, a Democrat who has been key in the fight to repeal the territorial abortion ban, said she spent her early years on the Navajo Nation where her parents were schoolteachers and saw firsthand people being denied their reproductive rights.

She also watched her sister-in-law struggle with two difficult pregnancies that resulted in stillbirths.

“My daughter, who is 17 years old, should this law go in effect would have less reproductive freedoms than her great-grandmother in 1940 and Texas, who had to have an abortion,” Stahl Hamilton said. “We have people who need reproductive care now.”

President Joe Biden’s campaign team believes anger over the fall of Roe v. Wade gives them a political advantage in battleground states like Arizona, while the issue has divided Republican leaders.

Abortion-ban advocates in the Senate on Wednesday gallery jeered and interrupted state Republican state Sen. Shawnna Bolick as she explained her vote in favor of repeal, joining with Democrats. Bolick is married to state Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, who voted in April to allow a 1864 law on abortion to be enforced again. He confronts a retention election in November.

The 19th century law had been blocked since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge that the 1864 ban could be enforced. Still, the law hasn’t actually been enforced while the case was making its way through the courts.

Planned Parenthood Arizona filed a motion Wednesday afternoon that asks the state Supreme Court to prevent a pause in abortion services until the Legislature’s repeal takes effect.

Advocates are collecting signatures for a ballot measure allowing abortions until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks, with exceptions — to save the parent’s life, or to protect her physical or mental health.

Republican lawmakers, in turn, are considering putting one or more competing abortion proposals on the November ballot.

Dr. Ronald Yunis, a Phoenix-based obstetrician-gynecologist who also provides abortions, called the repeal a positive development for patients who might otherwise leave Arizona for medical care.

“This is good for ensuring that women won’t have to travel to other states just to get the health care they need,” Yunis said. “I was not too concerned because I have a lot of confidence in our governor and attorney general. I’m certain they will continue finding ways to protect women.”

FILE - The Arizona Senate building at the state Capitol stands, April 11, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats at the Arizona Legislature are expected to make a final push Wednesday, May 1, to repeal the state’s long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions that a court said can be enforced. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

FILE - Pro-life demonstrators walk in the front of the Arizona Capitol prior to the vote on the proposed repeal of the state's near-total ban on abortions prior to winning approval from the state House on, April 24, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats at the Arizona Legislature are expected to make a final push Wednesday, May 1, to repeal the state’s long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions that a court said can be enforced. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Arizona state senator Shawnna Bolick, R-District 2, speaks, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Anti-abortion supporters stand outside the Capitol, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Democratic Arizona state senator Anna Hernandez, D-District 24, left, hugs a colleague after a their vote, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Jake Hoffman, R-District 15, speaks Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Democratic Arizona state senators hug after a their vote, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Eva Burch, D-District 9, looks on, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator J. D. Mesnard, R-District 13, plays audio of a heart beat from his cell phone, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Jake Hoffman, R-District 15, motions as he speaks to the Senate President, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Shawnna Bolick, R-District 2, speaks, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)