School Bus Window Shattered on Freeway; 2 Teens Arrested

After it appeared the rash of window-busting attacks on Los Angeles area freeways had tapered off, two teenage boys were arrested Thursday night for allegedly using a BB gun to shoot out a window on a school bus carrying 16 children.

The children were not harmed, police said.

A third youth was being sought in the attack, which occurred about 4 p.m. as the bus traveled north on the Golden State Freeway, police said.

Police said it was not known what school the children attend.

A police spokesman said a resident alerted officers from the Foothill Division about 6 p.m. that he had seen youths near Sheldon Street and the freeway with a weapon. Two youths were detained and a third fled, and the BB gun was recovered, police said.

It was the latest in a series of incidents in which the windows of more than 250 vehicles have been damaged on Los Angeles freeways since Sept. 11.

However, after the arrest of two men last week in connection with some of the reported attacks, the incidents dropped off sharply. The California Highway Patrol, the lead agency investigating the attacks, had ceased issuing daily bulletins on the problem as it appeared to be waning.

The two men arrested last week, Jose Soto, 21, and Hugo Hernandez, 22, have not yet been charged in the attacks. They are being held on charges of violating terms of their probation by possessing firearms. But the Los Angeles district attorney’s office has said it expects to file charges against them in the freeway incidents.