Brother Supplied Gun Used in Slaying on Bus

The gun that Esther Rogers used to kill a fellow passenger on a bus in Beverly Hills last month was supplied by her brother, according to a coroner’s report. The report also said that Rogers had been arrested by Los Angeles police for carrying another gun two weeks before the May 15 incident, which ended when sheriff’s deputies stormed the bus and shot her to death.

Unable to buy a new gun, she prevailed on her brother to give her the .357 magnum revolver that was used on the bus, the report said. Rogers, who had shown signs of mental illness since 1978, told her sister earlier that day that she expected to die violently, the report said.

After a confrontation in which Venice resident Bernard Calonne, 30, was fatally shot, Rogers ignored an order to throw down the gun when sheriff’s deputies stormed the bus, the report said. Deputies fired at least 18 bullets, 12 of which struck her head and torso, perforating the liver, lungs, brain and heart, an autopsy showed.