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A man was arrested after holding a gun to the head of a bus driver, hijacking a bus, leading police on a chase and fatally shooting a passenger in Atlanta on Tuesday (June 11), CNN reports.
Joseph Grier, 39, a previously convicted felon, was identified as the suspect by Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum during a news conference. Police said they won't publicly identify the victim killed in the shooting until their family members have been notified.
Schierbaum called the bus driver "a hero" for facing "a very dangerous situation" and still remaining committed to his passengers, acknowledging that the driver was shaken up during what he called a "harrowing experience." Seventeen people, including the driver, were on the bus at the time of the incident, the police chief confirmed.
Authorities received a report of gunfire on a downtown Atlanta bus at around 4:35 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The bus took off after Atlanta Police officers arrived at the scene, leading to a chase on I-85 and surface streets through multiple counties, which resulted in several vehicles being struck by the bus.
Grier was arrested "without further incident" after the chase. Officers found the gunshot victim, who was pronounced dead at a hospital, wounded inside the bus.
No other injuries to people on the bus were reported and it's unclear whether any motorists were hurt at the time of publication.