A gunman hijacked a Metro bus and prompted Los Angeles police to embark on a wild chase that ended with one passenger dead in downtown Los Angeles early Wednesday, police said.
For more than an hour, a cavalry of officers in police SUVs followed the bus as it slowly moved from Vermont Knolls in South Los Angeles northward to downtown, where it finally stopped after police used spike strips on the tires and surrounded it with a SWAT team after 2 a.m.
Video of the incident showed a series of small explosions around the bus as it stopped near Alameda and 6th Streets, then police stormed inside with shields. A bus driver climbed out a window and ran to safety behind an armored vehicle as officers moved in.
The chase began near South Figueroa Street and Manchester Avenue in South Los Angeles around 12:45 a.m. after police received 911 calls related to the bus, Los Angeles Police Officer Rosario Cervantes said. Details about what prompted the 911 calls were not immediately available.
Police located the bus and stopped it briefly at 117th and Figueroa shortly after 1 a.m., but then the chase continued, Cervantes said. At some point, officers threw spike strips into the path of the bus, shredding its tires.
Video of the chase as the bus made its way through downtown showed the bus being pursued by more than a half-dozen police vehicles as onlookers rode alongside on bicycles recording video. One video showed the bus driver waving to a news cameraman as “EMERGENCY 911 CALL POLICE” scrolled across his message board. The video shows the bus driver looking ahead and two other people inside, a man with a backpack giving the cameraman the middle finger and another passenger slumped against a window in a nearby seat. Officers then yell at the cameraman to get away from the bus before the chase continues.
When the chase ended and police moved in, they found a passenger with multiple gunshot wounds, but no one else was hurt, Cervantes said. The driver and a second passenger were treated by paramedics at the scene and released, and the kidnapper was arrested. The victim suffering from gunshot wounds was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.
The kidnapping is the latest in a series of violent incidents that have plagued Los Angeles' transportation system. In May, Mayor Karen Bass called for increased security on public transit lines.
Earlier this year, several stabbings and shootings on buses and trains sparked outrage and demands for change.
In April, Mirna Soza, 66 years old, She was fatally stabbed on the subway as she was returning home from her night shift job and a passenger grabbed a bus driver. asking for help after being stabbed.
