1 dead after bus hijacking at gunpoint in Georgia; suspect in custody: police

One person was fatally wounded by gunfire in a bus hijacking that led to a chase through two counties in the US state of Georgia on Tuesday, authorities said.

The incident occurred at about 4:35 p.m. Eastern time in downtown Atlanta when police responded to a report of shots fired at a Gwinnett County Transit bus and a “possible hostage situation,” Atlanta police said.

“When officers arrived on scene, the bus fled the scene and a chase began,” Atlanta police said in a press release.

According to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, the suspect held the bus driver at gunpoint during the kidnapping.

According to Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum, there were 17 people on the bus at the time, including the bus driver.

During the chase, police received a 911 call from a family member of a bus passenger “who reported that he had received text messages that a kidnapping had occurred and that people were being held hostage against their will,” Schierbaum told reporters during a press conference Tuesday evening.

Police then received another emergency call from the bus. The number remained active throughout the chase and provided information that helped “bring an end to this hostage situation,” the police chief said.

The ensuing chase spanned multiple jurisdictions, during which police attempted “various tactics” to stop the bus, police said. The vehicle was eventually disabled by a SWAT vehicle in Stone Mountain in DeKalb County, about 16 miles northeast of where the incident occurred, police said.

DeKalb County SWAT officers “strategically positioned the Bearcat to prevent any opportunity for escape,” the DeKalb County Police Department said in a statement.

The suspect – a 39-year-old man from Stone Mountain – was taken into custody without further incident, police said.

SWAT officers found the shooting victim while clearing the bus, DeKalb County police said. The victim was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, where he died, Atlanta police said. The victim’s name has not been released because family has not yet been notified.

Investigators are trying to determine when the shooting occurred, Schierbaum said.

No further injuries were reported.

The investigation is ongoing, Atlanta police said.

The shooting and hijacking of the bus came after another, unrelated incident in which shots were fired in a food court at a downtown Atlanta mall on Tuesday afternoon, officials said. Three people were injured and an off-duty Atlanta police officer shot the armed suspect, police said.

The suspect in the bus hijacking boarded the bus near the mall but was not involved in the shooting, Schierbaum said. The suspects in both cases are convicted felons, he said.

Mayor Dickens condemned the wave of gun violence on Tuesday, saying it was “the result of too many people having guns in their hands.”

“We all have to say that enough is enough when too many people have guns in their hands and are using them for violence,” he said. “I’m grateful to the men and women of the Atlanta Police Department and all of these agencies here who minimized what could have been even more dangerous.”