Bus passengers frantically texted loved ones as gunman hijacked Atlanta commuter bus during rush hour

Atlanta police had barely finished notifying the community about a shooting at a downtown food court Tuesday afternoon when calls started coming in about a bus hijacking.

A gunman hijacked a commuter bus with 17 people inside and shot one of them with the passenger’s gun, authorities said, prompting others to frantically text their loved ones and to call 911 for help.

But as police arrived on the scene and attempted to confront the shooter, identified as Joseph Grier, a 39-year-old felon, the suspect held the bus driver at gunpoint and forced him to flee at full speed, according to Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum.

The ensuing rush-hour police chase zigzagged across highway lanes and suburban streets as the bus led authorities through at least two counties, sometimes crashing into other cars and crossing into opposing traffic .

Inside, a passenger surreptitiously remained on the line to 911, allowing authorities to hear the commotion, Schierbaum said. Mayor Andre Dickens said the chaos looked like a scene from a movie since the suspect had “a gun to a bus driver’s head saying, ‘Don’t stop this bus or worse will happen.'”

When the bus finally stopped on a tree-lined street in suburban Stone Mountain, passengers exited en masse and Grier was arrested without incident, police said.

A passenger found shot aboard the bus was taken to a hospital, where he later died, authorities said. He was identified Wednesday as Ernest Byrd Jr., 58, according to the Fulton County medical examiner’s office, which ruled his death a homicide.

The suspect – who happened to be at the scene of Tuesday afternoon’s downtown shooting and spoke to local media moments before the hijacking – now faces a series of related charges to Tuesday’s incident, according to jail records.

They include one count of murder, 14 counts of kidnapping, 13 counts of aggravated assault, one count of first-degree hijacking of a motor vehicle, one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of possession of a firearm or knife while committing or attempting to commit certain crimes.

Grier waved in his first court appearance, according to a Fulton County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.

He has 19 previous convictions for crimes, police said, but did not provide further details. CNN was unable to determine whether the suspect had an attorney.

How this heartbreaking incident unfolded

The hijacked Gwinnett County Transit bus is part of a network of commuter routes that bring people to and from Atlanta’s sprawling suburbs, including passenger Paulette Gilbert, who called her husband from inside the bus as the chase began to unfold.

Paulette Gilbert seemed stunned and frightened as she described a man who boarded the bus and began acting strangely, said her husband, Johnny Gilbert. She said the man got into a confrontation with another passenger and shot him, possibly in the leg.

“She said the guy got on the bus and looked a little crazy,” Gilbert said, telling his wife’s story. “He was disturbing or annoying people,” he added.

The husband urged his wife to hang up in case the shooter thought she was calling 911, fearing he would shoot her next. “I said put the phone down, put it away. Sit quietly.

Grier was “engaging with passengers” when he fought with one of them, a man, who pulled out a gun, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

“Grier took the passenger’s gun and began threatening the passengers with it,” the GBI said in a news release, citing preliminary information from its investigation. “Grier then shot the passenger and ordered the bus driver to flee the scene while threatening the passengers with his gun.”

Around 4:30 p.m., police received the first 911 call from a passenger reporting that an armed man was holding the bus hostage on Ivan Allen Boulevard and that there may have been gunfire, Schierbaum said. Then the line went silent.

Shortly after, another call came in from the family of a passenger who had texted them that the bus had been hijacked.

A police officer arrived on scene about a minute after the first 911 call and attempted to confront the suspect, who then “forced the bus driver to leave,” Schierbaum said.

A third 911 call – this time from another passenger – remained on the line throughout the chase, allowing dispatchers to relay information to several law enforcement agencies involved in the pursuit, the chief said .

The bus led a fleet of law enforcement vehicles along Atlanta’s Interstate 85 as rush-hour commuters sped past. It passed through several suburban areas before stopping in the town of Stone Mountain.

The large bus struck several vehicles during the pursuit, police said, although it was unclear whether any drivers were injured.

Officers were able to disable the vehicle using several tactics, including placing an armored vehicle on one of its sides, preventing it from maneuvering in that direction, police said. The GBI said law enforcement slashed the bus’s tires during the chase, but it continued to move forward.

Eventually, a Georgia State Trooper fired his rifle into the engine compartment of the bus, the GBI said, causing the bus to stop on Hugh Howell Road in Stone Mountain.

As the bus stopped, passengers began to disembark and Grier was arrested without incident, police said. A joint investigation into the hijacking will be conducted by the Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which will also investigate the police use of force.

Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis said Wednesday that an employee in her office was on the hijacked bus and witnessed the incident, so she could not prosecute the suspect.

Willis asked the Georgia Board of Prosecutors to assign a different jurisdiction to prosecute the suspect, writing in the letter that his office is “conflicted because it has been determined that a victim/witness in this case is a current employee of the district attorney’s office. for the Atlanta Judicial Circuit.

A violent day for Atlantans

The hijacking was one of two violent incidents Tuesday in downtown Atlanta, just four blocks apart. Although police say the incidents do not appear to be related, their alarming proximity – and the suspects’ lengthy criminal records – have drawn condemnation and concern from local authorities.

About two hours before the hijacking, a man shot and injured three people in a busy Atlanta food court. Police said the 34-year-old suspect in that shooting, who was quickly arrested, is a convicted felon who has been arrested 11 times.

Interviews with local news stations showed Grier at the scene, saying in rambling statements that he witnessed the shooting at the Peachtree Center.

“I have knives. I have all this shit on me. I protect myself. I can’t get a gun,” Grier said in an interview with CNN affiliate WXIA, adding that he has a prior felony conviction and is on probation.

A CNN crew at the scene after the shooting observed Grier being belligerent and interfering with officers during their investigation. Police are investigating whether Grier was present during the earlier shooting.

“Today has been a very active day, but let me be clear, we are talking about gun violence that is the result of too many people having guns in their hands,” said the Mayor Dickens at a press conference Tuesday evening. “You’re talking about people who shouldn’t have taken to the streets with guns.”

Dickens said the spate of gun violence shows “something more needs to be done,” but noted that violent crime in the city was declining.

“So this day is not representative of all days in the city of Atlanta, but it is a day that we will never forget,” the mayor said.

CNN’s Steve Almasy, Jade Gordon Dakin Andone, Jamiel Lynch and Cara Lynn Clarkson contributed to this report.

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