A suspect fatally shot a passenger on a Los Angeles MTA bus early Wednesday before hijacking the vehicle and then leading police on a wild chase for over an hour before he was apprehended by a SWAT team, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) tells Fox News Digital.
The dramatic incident unfolded at around 12:45 a.m. when police received a 911 call about a shooting and subsequent bus hijacking at Figaro Street and Manchester Avenue.
Police say the suspect shot at least one person before holding the driver at gunpoint and forcing him to drive northbound. During the initial stages of the hijacking, other passengers were seen exiting the bus, police say.
ATLANTA BUS HIJACKING SUSPECT HAD 19 PRIOR ARRESTS, MENTAL ILLNESSES, FAMILY SAYS
The LAPD’s SWAT team eventually stopped the bus at 2:05 a.m. in the vicinity of South Alameda Street and 6th Street, about six miles northeast of where the initial hijacking took place.
Police deployed spike strips to slow it down and it eventually came to a stop before the suspect barricaded himself in the vehicle.
Online images and a live stream from local news reporters show an MTA bus stopped at the side of the road with an armored police vehicle in front of it and an armed SWAT team at the scene.
The suspect was taken into custody and the injured victim was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition but later succumbed to his injuries, police say. Police say the incident is now being treated as a homicide investigation.
The Los Angeles Fire Department says that two other people on the bus refused treatment. A motive for the shooting is not known.
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