A 51-year-old Los Angeles man has been charged in a fatal bus hijacking early Wednesday morning.
Los Angeles Police said that Lamont Campbell pulled a gun on a city bus in the Vermont Knolls neighborhood of south LA, and the bus driver activated a panic button and puts a “CALL 911” message on the bus, KTLA reported.
Police received their first calls at about 12:45 a.m. and eventually found the bus stopped, but it pulled away when officers drew close, prompting a slow-speed pursuit that last for about an hour before spike strips brought the bus to a stop in downtown LA.
Once the bus stopped, officers deployed flash bang devices, and the driver and a passenger escaped through windows. Officers found one passenger with multiple gunshot wounds who later died at a hospital.
Police said Campbell boarded the bus, argued with the driver, and then shot the passenger before the driver punched the silent alarm, which also alarted bus operations center, the Los Angeles Times reported. L.A. County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Janice Hahn called the incident a “real-life nightmare.”
“I want to recognize that Metro bus driver whose actions last night were nothing short of heroic,” Hahn said. “With a gunman on board and his life on the line, he had the composure and the wherewithal to push the silent alarm, alerting both the Metro operation center and law enforcement.”
The bus driver has not been named, but Los Angeles County Metropolitcan Transit Authority = said he had been with the company for a decade.
Several passengers escaped the bus when the shots were fired, the Time said, but two were still on board for the pursuit. One of the fleeing passengers was hit by a car but was not seriously injured.
Campbell is being held on a $2 million bond.
