The Nation - News from Nov. 4, 1988

A 10-year-old boy in Port Arthur, Tex., was taken into custody after he allegedly shot his school bus driver in the head, authorities said. The driver, Russell Jean Hampton, was listed in critical condition at St. Mary’s Hospital. Police said witnesses saw the student run from the bus before they discovered Hampton, 40, slumped over the steering wheel. She had been shot in the base of the skull with a small-caliber handgun, police said. The shooting occurred after Hampton had dropped off students at Dick Dowling Elementary School and was returning to the district’s bus storage barn, police said. “Apparently this boy had missed the bus earlier in the day and she had seen him riding his bicycle along the road on her way back,” police Lt. J. W. Fontenot said. Police speculated that Hampton had told the boy to get on the bus, with the intention of returning him to school and possibly reporting him for truancy.