Kane Roden, 31, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 40 years in prison for gunning down Uber driver Tahirou Diallo in North Richland Hills last year, closing the criminal case against a man with a long history of violent charges. The plea was announced by prosecutors today, more than a year after the early-morning shooting left Diallo, 60, dead in the street where he had picked up his final fare.
According to the Tarrant County DA, Roden ordered an Uber to the 8000 block of Mickey Street in North Richland Hills in the early hours of May 7, 2025. When Diallo arrived to pick him up, Roden, who was highly intoxicated, pulled out a gun and shot and killed him. Neighborhood surveillance cameras had captured Diallo's vehicle transporting Roden down that same block shortly before midnight, moments before the fatal shooting occurred, according to WFAA.
This plea doesn’t bring back Tahirou Diallo – as his widow wrote in a letter read aloud in the courtroom. But it does guarantee that Kane Roden “is off the streets … and won’t hurt anyone else.”
— Tarrant County DA (@TarrantCountyDA) August 31, 2026
Thanks to Det. Joe West and the NRH Police Department for their work on this case. pic.twitter.com/cDFp0Z3r5f
A Chilling Eyewitness Account
An eyewitness, Lauren Shoffit, told FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth that she saw the passenger get out of the vehicle, walk around the back to the driver's side, adopt a two-handed shooting stance, and fire at Diallo before she saw the muzzle flash and ran away. When North Richland Hills officers arrived at the scene at 12:01 a.m., they found Roden severely intoxicated alongside Diallo's SUV, with the handgun used in the shooting lying on the ground directly next to him, the station reported.
Roden's criminal history stretched back years, according to the Tarrant County DA. Records reviewed by CBS News Texas show at least 10 previous charges against him, including continuous violence against the family, violation of a bond or protective order, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and terroristic threat of a family household. Following his arrest, he was booked into the Tarrant County Jail and held on a $500,000 bond for the murder charge alongside outstanding family violence warrants, per the same report.
A Guinean Immigrant Remembered as a Community Pillar
Diallo was widely regarded as a pillar of the community, according to the Tarrant County DA. He was an immigrant from Guinea in West Africa living in Hurst, Texas, and he left behind a wife and a 3-year-old son. WFAA reported that his family raised funds through GoFundMe to send his body home to Guinea for burial.
Diallo's widow wrote a letter that was read aloud in the courtroom, stating that the plea does not bring her husband back but does guarantee that Roden is off the streets and will not hurt anyone else, according to the Tarrant County DA. The case was prosecuted by assistant district attorneys Bill Vassar and Tyler Coleman, with investigator Caleb Blank and victim coordinator CeCe Jones also credited in the case, per the DA's office. The North Richland Hills Police Department, including Det. Joe West, was thanked for its work on the case.
Family Calls for Rideshare Safety Reforms
Following Diallo's death, his surviving family publicly called on rideshare platforms to implement mandatory criminal background checks and vetting for passengers to protect drivers from violent riders, WFAA reported. Uber issued a statement following the murder expressing condolences to Diallo's family and saying company officials were in contact with law enforcement to support the investigation, according to the same report.
Under Texas Government Code § 508.145(d), individuals convicted of murder — classified as an aggravated 3G offense — are ineligible for parole until their actual calendar time served equals half of their sentence, according to the Levinson Law Firm. That means Roden must serve at least 20 calendar years without consideration of good conduct time before he can be considered for parole.
North Richland Hills, a Tarrant County suburb of roughly 71,800 residents, recorded just one murder and 143 total violent crimes in 2021, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation crime statistics, underscoring how rare a killing like Diallo's is in the community. For the family Diallo left behind, and for the drivers who continue to pick up strangers for a living, the case has become a stark reminder of the risks rideshare workers face — and a renewed push for platforms to do more to screen who gets in the car.
