An armed hijacker took control of an LA Metro bus early Wednesday morning. He led seemingly half the Los Angeles Police Department on an hour-long chase from South Los Angeles into Downtown while holding the bus driver at gunpoint. The police stopped the bus using spike stripes near Sixth and Alameda Streets. Then, SWAT officers used flash bangs and bean bags to rescue the driver and apprehend the gunman.
The LAPD believes the gunman shot a passenger multiple times early during the hijacking. Many passengers simply got off when he stormed on brandishing a handgun. There were four people onboard when the chase began just before 1:00 a.m.: the driver, the gunman and two passengers, according to KNBC. It’s unclear how or why one of the passengers was shot. Once the hostage situation ended, he was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition, where he died.
City officials and LAPD brass deservedly heaped praise on the bus driver who remained calm despite having a gun pointed at him. The driver hit the bus’ silent alarm and kept driving as safely as possible, the Washington Post reported. A different bus hijacking earlier this year in Los Angeles played out more destructively, with an armed man grabbing at the steering wheel and hitting multiple cars before crashing into a hotel.
Los Angeles might be known for its televised car chases, but it hasn’t been the only city to suffer an armed bus hijacking this year. In June, a bus with 17 people on board was hijacked in Atlanta. Two passengers had a heated argument before one pulled out a gun and shot the other, killing him.