A doctor who worked as a DoorDash driver to support his wife’s medical career was shot in the back of the head after being sent to a Philadelphia home where residents said they had never ordered food.
Md Mahfuzul Haque, 43, was making a delivery in the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood on July 7 when he was killed in what investigators described as a targeted attack involving three masked suspects.
Zakah Johnson, 15, has been charged as an adult with murder, robbery, conspiracy and firearms offenses in connection with Haque’s death.
Johnson was already being held in an unrelated case when investigators identified him as a suspect. Police arrested him again shortly before he was scheduled to be released.
The teenager was denied bail and is being held at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10.
Police are still searching for two other people believed to have taken part in the killing.
Haque was a physician from Bangladesh who had temporarily put his own medical career on hold to support his wife, Minara Rahman, while she trained to become an optometrist in the United States.
The couple had spent years working toward a new life in America. Their plans ended in tragedy just as Rahman was beginning the career her husband had sacrificed to support.
Philadelphia police officers were called to South Ithan Street shortly before 9:30 p.m. and found Haque lying beside his car, which was still running.
He had been shot in the back of the head. Two spent rifle casings were reportedly discovered just inches from his body.
A DoorDash delivery bag was also found nearby.
Haque was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said three masked men wearing dark clothing fled the area after the shooting.
Investigators recovered several cellphones at the scene and found another bag of food up to a block away.
Authorities began reviewing neighborhood surveillance footage in an effort to retrace Haque’s final delivery and identify the people responsible.
Residents at the address where Haque had been sent reportedly told police they had not placed a food order.
Investigators have not revealed who placed the order, why Haque may have been targeted or which suspect allegedly fired the fatal shot.
DoorDash said it was cooperating with law enforcement.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss,” the company said in a statement. “We are fully cooperating with law enforcement to assist their investigation in order to help bring those responsible for this senseless act to justice.”
Haque and Rahman, both 43, met while attending medical school in Bangladesh in 2000 and married soon afterward.
They later practiced medicine in their home country before moving to Canada through a skilled immigration program in 2011.
The family spent much of the next decade in Canada, where Haque had extended relatives, before relocating to Philadelphia with their son in 2023.
Rahman enrolled in Drexel University’s optometry program in hopes of qualifying to work in the United States and eventually earning enough to support the family.
Haque took delivery jobs and other temporary work while his wife completed her education.
“It was me who wanted to do something more, and he always supported me,” Rahman told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Without him, it would have been impossible.”
Rahman graduated last year and began practical training while the family worked to extend their U.S. visas.
She said the couple believed America would provide greater opportunity, safety and stability, despite her concerns about crime in Philadelphia.
After her husband’s killing, Rahman abandoned her plans to pursue a medical career in the United States and returned to Vancouver with their 14-year-old son.
Haque was buried in Vancouver.
Rahman said she was especially disturbed by the age of the teenage suspect because Johnson is only one year older than her son.
“I can’t imagine any boy like my son’s age treating anybody else like that,” she said. “I have no idea what they were thinking — what was their motive, and how did they get that firearm that easily?”
The killing also destroyed the family’s plans for a summer vacation to Florida and an anniversary trip to Atlantic City.
Rahman said she has struggled with guilt over whether the family’s decision to move to Philadelphia for her career may have contributed to her husband’s death.
“I’m crying, I’m mourning, I’m in grief, but I’m still not believing he’s not with me,” she said.
Haque’s death was one of at least three shootings involving delivery drivers in Philadelphia this summer.
Police separately charged a 14-year-old boy with allegedly luring delivery driver Anshul Kuncha to an abandoned North Philadelphia rowhouse, where Kuncha was found shot to death in the head.
In another incident, a 31-year-old delivery driver was shot in the hand following an argument with two women in the Northern Liberties neighborhood. He was hospitalized in stable condition.
Rahman said she and Haque had spent years helping patients through some of the darkest moments of their lives while working in medicine.
Now, she said, she is the one who needs help.
“Now I’m in that situation,” she said. “I can’t take it anymore, and I need help.”
Well, that’s what they get for coming to America, especially a 💩 city like FILTHADELPHIA.
“…that’s what they get…? You think they deserved this? You need help, Anonymous!! Or might I also suggest that you become a Door Dash driver in Philly. These folks were in the U.S. legally, on visas, and working hard and furthering their education in pursuit of a better life.