Atlanta bus chase leaves 1 dead, driver injured

In a brazen attack late Tuesday afternoon during rush hour, a gunman hijacked a downtown Atlanta public bus with 17 people on board, pointed a gun at the driver’s head from the bus and killed a passenger.

The incident, which led to a multi-jurisdictional police chase along Interstate 85 and spanned two counties, began around 4:20 p.m. ET in Gwinett County, the police said. Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum during a news conference after what city officials called a “scary journey.”

Law enforcement said the suspected shooter, identified as Joseph Grier, 39, of Stone Mountain, was eventually arrested by officers after a Georgia State Patrol trooper fired a gun. his patrol rifle into the engine compartment of the bus, causing the vehicle to malfunction. and come stop in DeKalb County.

The hijacking and shooting occurred shortly after three people and a 34-year-old suspected shooter were shot and killed in a downtown Atlanta food court earlier Tuesday afternoon.

Here’s what we know so far about the bus hijacking and shooting:

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How did the bus hijacking take place?

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, preliminary information shows that around 4:20 p.m. Tuesday, a Gwinnett County Transit bus picked up passengers in downtown Atlanta.

The stop is a few blocks south of the Civic Center subway station and northwest of the city’s Hotel District.

Grier, one of the passengers who boarded the bus, got into an argument with a passenger who pulled out a gun. According to a GBI press release, Grier took the passenger’s gun and began threatening other passengers.

“Grier then shot the passenger and ordered the bus driver to flee the scene while threatening the passengers with his gun,” the GBI wrote.

Around that time, Schierbaum said, police received a 911 call reporting that an armed man on the bus was holding hostages and “there may have been a discharge of a weapon.” . The call, the chief said, was then cut off.

Shortly afterward, the chief said, 911 received a second call from a family member of a person on the bus who texted him saying the bus had been hijacked and the people at on board were taken hostage.

A high-speed police chase

Local and state law enforcement began pursuing the bus as it headed north into Gwinnett County and then east into DeKalb County. During the pursuit, the bus struck several police vehicles, the GBI reported.

During the chase, police used various tactics to stop the bus, and at one point, Atlanta police reported, officers threw spike strips.

The bus’s tires were slashed during the chase, but the bus continued to flee, the GBI reported.

Eventually, a trooper took a rifle and fired into the bus’s engine compartment, causing a malfunction, and the chase ended along a road in Stone Mountain, about 21 miles northeast of the where the bus picked up Grier.

At that point, Grier was taken into custody “without further incident,” the GBI reported, and the passenger who was allegedly shot by Grier was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

Bus driver also taken to hospital with injuries

The bus driver was also transported to a local hospital for unspecified treatment.

Law enforcement reported no other injuries and it was not immediately known whether the bus driver had left the hospital.

USA TODAY contacted the GBI and Atlanta police.

Atlanta food court shooting:3 people injured in food court; suspect shot dead by off-duty police officer

The name of the shooting victim has been withheld pending notification of family.

The name of the deceased victim has been withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The person’s official cause of death will be determined following an autopsy performed by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The GBI will conduct an independent investigation into the use of force and, once completed, the case will be forwarded to the DeKalb County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

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