A gunman shot dead a passenger on board a commuter bus in Georgia on Tuesday and held a firearm to the driver’s head during a terrifying police chase, authorities said.
Law enforcement responded to a 911 call made at around 4:30 p.m. about an armed suspect on a bus in Atlanta holding hostages and the possible discharge of a weapon, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said. Around a minute later, an officer confronted the perpetrator who “then forced the bus driver to drive off,” Schierbaum said.
The chief said another 911 call came in from a relative of one of the 17 people who were on board the Gwinnett County Transit bus who had received text messages saying a hijacking had taken place and hostages were being held against their will. TV news choppers following the police chase captured the bus smashing into other vehicles and driving into oncoming traffic before it was finally disabled and penned in by a BearCat in DeKalb County.
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It was then that the passengers were able to escape the dramatic ordeal and the suspect—identified by police as 39-year-old Joseph Grier—was taken into custody. Authorities said they found an adult victim on board the vehicle with what was believed to be a gunshot wound who later died from their injuries, according to the Associated Press.
Schierbaum said authorities would not publicly identify the victim until the family had been notified. He described Grier, whose last known address was in Stone Mountain, as a convicted felon who had previously been arrested 19 times.
The chief also said the driver was a “hero” who was forced to deal with a “very dangerous situation.” “He’s been through a very harrowing experience,” Schierbaum said.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens praised the law enforcement response as multiple agencies and 911 call operators were “trying to navigate what was a gunman with a gun to the head of a bus driver, saying: ‘Don’t stop this bus or else worse will happen.’” “It seems like the movies,” Dickens said at a news conference Tuesday.
