Man on bus accused of threatening to shoot people
Undocumented immigrant arrested near Illinois border
Racine County sheriff 's deputies arrested a man on a Greyhound bus headed for Chicago late Friday after a passenger called police saying the man claimed to have a gun and was threatening to kill people, the Sheriff 's Office said Saturday.
The 33-year-old man, who lives in Chicago, is being held in the Lake County Jail awaiting extradition on charges of making terroristic threats and disorderly conduct.
The Sheriff's Office said the man is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico and that he had previously been deported in 2012.
No weapon was found on the bus, but it has been impounded and a more thorough search is being conducted, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff's Office is recommending charges to the Racine County district attorney's office. The Journal Sentinel generally does not name suspects until they are charged.
According to the Sheriff 's Office, Racine County dispatchers were notified of the incident around 9:50 p.m. when they received a transfer call from Milwaukee County.
Witnesses told deputies they heard an argument between the suspect and another passenger in which the suspect threatened to kill "everyone on the bus," and made a motion suggesting he was reaching into his waistband for a gun. The witness who was being threatened asked a passenger seated behind him to call police.
Racine deputies located the bus on southbound I-94, laying down two sets of spike strips in an attempt to stop it, but it did not pull over until just south of the Illinois line.
The driver told deputies that he had not been threatened, but didn't realize he was being pulled over.
The Sheriff's Office said 36 passengers were removed from the bus and that the suspect was taken into custody without incident.
A Greyhound spokeswoman said Saturday that there were 50 passengers on the bus at the time of the incident. She said they were picked up by another bus and transported to Chicago and their final destinations.
"We continue to fully cooperate with the authorities during their ongoing investigation to determine exactly what happened onboard," said spokeswoman Lanesha Gipson.
The Racine Sheriff's Office said it was assisted in the investigation by the Kenosha County Sheriff ’s Office, Wisconsin State Patrol, Illinois State Patrol and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.