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Gunman HIJACKS Atlanta Bus, One Killed, Man Arrested
Gunman HIJACKS Atlanta Bus, One Killed, Police Say
Suspect in armed bus hijacking in Atlanta spoke to local media at a shooting scene hours earlier
Joseph Grier, 39, has been charged with 14 counts of aggravated assault, 14 counts of kidnapping and one count of murder.
AP 13 JUN 2024
Man rambled to reporters after a shooting in Atlanta. Then, he hijacked a bus
The man charged with murder and kidnapping after a bus was hihacked in Atlanta on Tuesday was interviewed by local media about having witnessed a shooting mere hours earlier.
Joseph Grier, 39, spoke to NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon at the scene of a shooting at Peachtree Center Mall, where a gunman shot three people before he was shot and wounded by a police officer.
Grier, wearing a gray shirt, recounted seeing the gunman get into a confrontation with someone before shots rang out.
“So I’m leaving out of the thing,” Grier said, pointing to the mall. “So I see the shooter, I guess, you know what I’m saying.” “He ran off ... and I guess, I don’t know if he pulled a gun or what he did. I was scared because I don’t have a gun, I can’t have one,” Grier said.
In the interview, Grier appeared to ramble, and he told reporters that he has bipolar disorder, that he had been off his medication for two weeks and that he was experiencing a manic episode. He also said that he was armed with knives and that he had previously been in jail.
He was arrested hours later wearing the same shirt in his mug shot. He is accused of hijacking a Gwinnett County Transit bus in Atlanta with 17 people on board, including the driver, officials said.
Grier boarded the bus at 4:20 p.m. and got into an argument with a male passenger that escalated into a fight, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
The passenger pulled out a gun, which Grier took and began to threaten passengers with, officials said. He shot the passenger and ordered the bus driver to flee the scene, the GBI alleged.
A law enforcement chase was launched as the bus drove into Gwinnett County, then east into DeKalb County. During the pursuit, the bus hit several police vehicles, and its tires were flattened.
Ultimately, a Georgia State Patrol trooper fired his patrol rifle into the engine compartment of the bus to cause it to malfunction and stop running, the GBI said.
The pursuit ended on Hugh Howell Road in Stone Mountain, and Grier was arrested without further incident.
The bus passenger died at a hospital. Atlanta police identified him Wednesday as Earnest Byrd Jr., 58.
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