Student, 10, Shoots School Bus Driver

A 10-year-old boy who missed his morning school bus but was picked up by the driver after she had delivered the other children to school shot the woman in the back of the head Thursday, police said.

Police later questioned the boy, who was found at his grandparents’ house near the scene of the shooting. They said they had no idea why the boy used his parents’ gun to shoot the driver, Russell Jean Hampton, 40.

Hampton, a former teacher’s aide who had driven a school bus since 1983, was in critical condition at a hospital.

The boy, who was not identified, was represented by counsel at a detention hearing at a county juvenile center in Beaumont, officials said. They added that the boy did not admit to shooting Hampton.

“We don’t know of any trouble with the child and her on the bus,” police Sgt. Cedric Clayton said.