FRIENDS SAY ONE OF THREE KILLED IN CRASH ONCE SURVIVED AL-Q AID A FIRING SQUAD IN IRAQ

Ali Erhaima once survived an al- Qaida firing squad in Baghdad, friends say, only to be killed with two others in a head- on crash early Friday morning in Naperville.

Erhaima, 32, a driver for Uber, died when a man speeding the wrong way on I- 88 smashed into his vehicle near Mill Street.

Authorities said Domenic Andreoni of Elgin was driving a 2012 Toyota east in the westbound lanes at 12: 56 a. m. when he struck the 2008 Chrysler 300 driven by Erhaima.

Andreoni, Erhaima and a passenger in the Chrysler, Shiva Inampudi, 40, of Naperville, all were pronounced dead at the scene.

A family friend, Moe Garmyani, said Erhaima, a Shia Muslim from Iraq who most recently lived in Aurora, was a guard at a Baghdad hotel in 2005 when he was kidnapped and held for ransom by insurgent fighters.

“His family paid the ransom, but negotiations still broke down somewhere and Erhaima was put before a firing squad where he was shot eight times and left for dead,” Garmyani said. “The police found him alive in the freezing morgue the next morning.”

Garmyani said Erhaima escaped to Syria where he later applied for refugee status. He came to the United States in 2012 and drove a taxi after undergoing several surgeries.

Andreoni’s Facebook page, meanwhile, identifies him as a U. S. Marine Corps recruiter in Oak Lawn. And the Marine was honored by the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in 2014.

Capt. James Stenger, public affairs officer for the 9th Marines Corps District headquartered at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, said he couldn’t provide any information pending notification of next of kin.

Inampudi’s longtime friend, Madhukar Chintalapudi, said Erhaima was a ride- share driver and Inampudi was a passenger on his way home from the airport.

“It’s very sad,” he said. “I’m still digesting the news. We had been very close. He’s very calm, very nice, very gentle, always smiling. We miss him a lot.”

According to Will County circuit court records, Andreoni had a lengthy list of traffic offenses from 2002 to 2007.

In March 2007, he was fined $ 175 for failing to reduce speed. In May 2006, he was assigned to traffic school and was fined $ 115 for driving 15 to 20 miles over the speed limit.

In July 2005, he was cited for underage possession and consumption of alcohol, and carrying liquor as a passenger.