Metro Bus Hijacked With Fatally Shot Passenger Onboard Prompts Police Pursuit in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 25 (KNN) — An armed man held a Metro bus driver hostage as the hijacked bus drove slowly through the South Los Angeles area and into downtown with a fatally shot passenger onboard overnight.

The incident began at approximately 12:45 a.m. in the area of West 112th Street and South Figueroa, where the Los Angeles Police Department received reports of a disturbance on a bus and potentially an assault with a deadly weapon that was occurring on the bus.

According to LAPD Deputy Chief Donald Graham, commanding officer of the Transit Services Bureau, officers were immediately dispatched to where they discovered the bus at about 117th Street and Figueroa. At that point, the bus was stopped, and LAPD officers from the southeast area attempted to make contact using their PA systems.

“The bus responded by slow-rolling away from the police officers, and a pursuit began at that point. The pursuit lasted about an hour as officers from the southeast area stayed behind the bus through a very circuitous route through South Los Angeles into the downtown area,” said Graham.

Officers deployed multiple spike strips to stop the bus, which proved successful at Alameda Street, just south of 6th Street.

“By that time, officers from our SWAT team had joined the pursuit package, understanding that there was a potential hostage situation that was occurring on the bus. When the bus came to a stop, officers used their training that we received from the MTA to disable the bus so that it could not move further, and officers from our SWAT team set up on the bus, made entry to the bus for dynamic rescue and ended up rescuing two individuals from the bus, as well as taking the suspect into custody,” said Graham.

Graham confirmed that the bus driver was unharmed, the second passenger, who was found self-barricaded at the back of the bus, was shaken but unharmed, a third passenger died from complications from gunshot wounds, and the suspect was taken into custody.

According to Graham, SWAT officers initiated medical treatment on the gunshot victim and were almost immediately replaced by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics. The victim was removed from the bus and transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

The LAPD has identified the victim as a 48-year-old Hispanic male and resident of Los Angeles. Investigators are in the process of notifying family members before releasing additional information.

Investigators located and recovered a semi-automatic handgun on the bus, reported the LAPD in a news release. The suspect has been identified as 51-year-old Lamont Campbell, a resident of Los Angeles, who has been arrested for murder and booked at the 77th Area Jail, where he is being held on a two-million-dollar bail.

The circumstances leading to this incident are currently unknown. The investigation is ongoing.

Zak Holman, Gabriel Pabon, KNN Video Journalists