Man Hijacks Atlanta Commuter Bus, Holds Hostages, Shoots and Kills One of the Passengers Before Being Arrested!

RISKAlert #1956?????? ???June 12, 2024? ?????? Atlanta, Georgia????????????????????????

A gunman hijacked a public bus in downtown Atlanta, with 17 passengers on board, during the afternoon rush hour Tuesday, holding a gun ?to the bus driver’s head and fatally shooting one passenger.

The incident turned into a multijurisdictional police chase along Interstate 85 and spanned two Georgia counties, began about 4:20 p.m. EST in Gwinett County, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said during?a press conference after ?what city officials called "a frightening journey."

Law enforcement said the suspected gunman,?identified as Joseph Grier, 39, of Stone Mountain, was eventually taken into custody by officers after a Georgia State Patrol Trooper fired a shot from his patrol rifle into the engine compartment of the bus causing the vehicle to malfunction and come to a stop in DeKalb County.? The hijacking and shooting took place on the heels of three people and a 34-year-old suspected shooter being?shot at a downtown Atlanta food court?earlier Tuesday afternoon.

About that time, Schierbaum said, police received a 911 call reporting a gunman on the bus was holding hostages and "that there had possibly been a discharge of a weapon." The call, the chief said, then disconnected.? Shortly after, the chief said, 911 received a second call from a family member of a person on the bus who texting them saying the bus had been hijacked and people onboard were being held hostage.

According to the?Georgia Bureau of Investigation, preliminary information shows at about 4:20 p.m Tuesday, a Gwinnett County Transit bus picked up passengers in downtown Atlanta.? The stop?is a couple blocks south of the Civic Center subway station?and northwest of the city's Hotel District neighborhood.?

Grier, one of the passengers AND A CONVICTED FELON, ?got into an argument with a male passenger who pulled out a gun, Grier took the gun from the passenger and began threatening other passengers. Grier then shot the passenger and ordered the bus driver to flee the scene while threatening passengers with the gun,"? The victim was taken to the hospital, where he died. ????

QUESTION: Time to start adding security safeguards to public transportation, like metal detectors, panic alarms, and camera systems?

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