One dead, 5 hurt in shooting on bus
A 51yearold woman was shot to death early Monday and five other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire inside a dark Greyhound bus packed with passengers as it sped up Interstate 5 on its way to San Francisco, officials said.
California Highway Patrol’s dispatch got a call from a passenger in the bus around 1:28 a.m. reporting a person with a gun had started shooting on northbound I5 near Fort Tejon (Kern County), said CHP spokesman Sgt. Brian Pennings. The bus had 43 occupants, including the driver and at least two children.
Officials identified the victim killed as a 51yearold woman carrying a Colombian passport. They were still trying to notify her family Monday afternoon. On Monday night, highway authorities released the name of the suspect, 33yearold Anthony De Vonte Williams of Capitol Heights, Maryland.
The wounded included: a 45yearold man and 19yearold woman who were both in critical condition; a 39yearold woman; a 50yearold woman who suffered minor injuries; and a 49yearold man whose condition was stabilized at a hospital.
Two youngsters — 6 and 8 years old — did not suffer injuries in the shooting.
“The bus was pretty full,” Pennings told The Chronicle. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Although authorities were still trying to piece together what happened, the information released depicted a horrific shooting that forced passengers to find cover.
The bus conductor immediately pulled over to the side of the interstate after the shooting, which occurred while the bus was moving. Passengers wrestled with and ultimately disarmed Williams, who left the vehicle without his gun, Pennings said. Officials were trying to determine if he voluntarily got off or was forced off the bus.
The driver left the suspect on the side of the road before taking the next exit at Grapevine Road and pulling into a gas station. Officials went to the station and started tending to the injured passengers, while other officers arrested the suspect on a highway shoulder.
Dispatch recordings described Williams as a man between 35 and 40 years old. A Bakersfield police dispatcher reported that passengers “were ducking” during the shooting. The suspect was in custody and being questioned Monday afternoon at the Bakersfield CHP office, Pennings said.
Detectives were talking to victims and witnesses and combing through the bus, trying to learn how the shooting occurred and what transpired in the moments before it.
Inspectors from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, one of several agencies investigating the shooting, determined a gun the suspect left behind was a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Detectives also found multiple magazines.
Greyhound officials released a statement saying the incident involved bus No. 68481, which was traveling overnight from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone and every family member impacted by the incident today,” Greyhound officials said. “We are gathering details and will assist the Kern County police in every way possible during their investigation.”
In San Francisco, where the bus was expected to arrive around 7:30 a.m. Monday, Scotty Zorn sat waiting in the Transbay transit center terminal on Mission Street. He woke up to reports there had been a shooting on a Greyhound bus, but he didn’t consider changing his travel plans.
The bartender was heading home to Reno, Nev., after traveling for months, and the $26 bus ticket wasn’t worth giving up, he said.
“A lot of people might be scared,” Zorn said, adding that Greyhound’s security is very relaxed.
Zoe Stricker accompanied her friend, Lily Angell, to the station Monday morning to wait for a bus to Santa Cruz. Neither had heard about the shooting.
“That’s terrifying,” Stricker said. “Everyone has a terrifying Greyhound story. But that does surprise me, though it shouldn’t, I guess.”
Stricker often takes Greyhound buses, she said, and she has never seen someone search a passenger’s belongings.
Angell, who grew up outside the United States, said she now thinks about guns in nearly every public space after the many mass shootings that have occurred across the United States in recent years. She was saddened to hear about Monday’s shooting, but she still planned to get on her bus.
“I feel so powerless when it comes to that,” Angell said.
Lalaine Tumibay shuddered when she found out about the killing as she sat in the terminal waiting for a bus to Sacramento. Tumibay rides the bus every few weeks to see her children, she said, and she normally feels safe because she knows the driver and other Greyhound staff.
But she said she thinks having a security guard aboard overnight Greyhound bus trips would be a good safety measure.
“Now, I’m scared and worried,” Tumibay said.
San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Rachel Swan and Matthias Gafni contributed to this report.
Michael Cabanatuan, Anna Bauman and Alejandro Serrano are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com, anna.bauman@sfchronicle.com, alejandro.serrano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan @abauman2 @serrano_alej