A man with a gun hijacked a transit bus in Los Angeles on Wednesday, killing one passenger and leading police on a chase through the city's downtown area, according to local authorities.
The Los Angeles Police Department said the suspect in the incident was taken into custody after an hours-long search. Police said two other passengers and the driver were also on the bus during the hijacking. One passenger died of multiple gunshot wounds after being taken to the hospital.
Authorities were called to South Los Angeles just before 1 a.m. after a driver activated an emergency sign reading “911 Call Police” on the front of the bus, local news media reported. The bus was stopped, but when it sped off, officers began pursuing it because they believed the person on board was armed. They used spike strips to stop the bus in downtown Los Angeles.
The SWAT team used flash-bang devices before boarding the bus and taking the suspect into custody, police said.
Police said the bus driver and other passengers were “shaken but uninjured.” The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it was “thankful” the driver was uninjured and said it would provide assistance to him.
Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Donald Graham said the driver, whose identity has not been revealed, drove the bus “as safely as possible” while police pursued the vehicle for about an hour.
“I think very highly of the operator,” Mr. Graham said at a news conference, praising the driver's patience and “bus operators in general for the work they do.”
Footage circulated online by local broadcasters and by people at the scene showed police officers and police vehicles surrounding a parked bus on Wednesday morning. A man sitting in the front seat of the bus can be seen with his hands raised out the window, and officers rescuing passengers are seen pulling the driver out of the bus's side window.
Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's homicide bureau were investigating and searching the bus for evidence, the department said. It was unclear Wednesday what events led up to the kidnapping.
In March, a man in Los Angeles was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping after police said he hijacked a bus. The man, named Anai Lindsay, threatened the driver, the only person on board, and indicated he had a gun. The bus eventually collided with several vehicles and a hotel, injuring one person.