A passenger was shot and killed after a gunman hijacked a commuter bus in downtown Atlanta with 17 people on board and held a gun to the bus driver’s head, according to police.
Atlanta police received three separate 911 calls beginning 4:30 p.m. that a man was holding hostages on a Gwinnett County Transit bus near 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard and that shots had been fired — but the call immediately cut out.
Responding officers saw 39-year-old Joseph Grier holding a gun to the bus driver’s head as the suspect forced him to start driving, sparking a wild police chase.
The bus crashed into several cars as it wove in and out of traffic, including a Gwinnett County patrol cruiser, while Georgia State Patrol cruisers pursued.
Aerial footage showed the bus barreling down the highway as other panicked drivers tried to get out of the way.
At one point, all lanes of the interstate were shut down as officers employed several different tactics to try to stop the bus.
In a desperate attempt to stop the bus, police appeared to try a “PIT” maneuver that was unsuccessful, 11alive reported.
The bus was finally disabled with the use of spike strips, cops said.
It came to a stop roughly 20 miles away in Tucker off Hugh Howell Road between Deer Ridge Drive and Rosser Road.
Passengers could be seen exiting the bus with their hands in the air. First responders immediately began performing CPR on a victim whom Greer had shot during the mayhem.
The victim, who has not been identified, was rushed to a local hospital, where they died, police said.
Greer was taken into custody and charges are pending.
Dennis Durham told WSBTV he was coming out of Gusto on Hugh Howell in Tucker when a car in front of him suddenly went in reverse to try to avoid the bus and slammed into the front of his vehicle.
“Here comes the bus right in front of us and just knocked through a lot of these cars and made them hit each other,” Durham said. “I saw so many police cars in so many different areas my head was swimming.”
One man told the outlet that his wife was one of the passengers on the bus. Greer appeared to be mentally ill, she said.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said Greer has 19 prior arrests, including for possession of a handgun.
