Bus Crashes After Driver Shot; 2 Dead, 30 Injured

A passenger on a city bus shot the driver in the arm Friday, causing the bus carrying at least 35 people to crash off a bridge and into an apartment building, police said.

The driver was thrown from the bus and killed. A second man, who was shot in the head, died at Harborview Medical Center, said police spokeswoman Christie Lynn Bonner.

The 72-seat articulated bus tumbled from the Aurora Bridge, which crosses Seattle’s Ship Canal, and fell about 50 feet to the apartment building and ground below. It landed with its two sections at right angles to each other and the accordion-like center section shredded open.

Fire Department spokeswoman Sheila Strehle said the 30 passengers were taken to six hospitals.

Strehle said two passengers remained in critical condition Friday night and others suffered injuries ranging from minor arm pain to a broken neck and internal injuries.

No one on the ground or in the apartment building was injured.

Firefighters searched the area around and beneath the bus, but no other victims were reported.

A handgun was recovered from one of the injured people at Harborview, but police did not know if it belonged to the shooter. Bonner said the handgun was not found with the man who died.

“They did find a firearm on somebody in the emergency room, but I don’t believe it had been fired,” said Harborview spokeswoman Tina Mankowski.

Witnesses reported that a passenger approached the driver and shot him as the bus was going south, toward downtown, Bonner said.

The driver lost control and the bus crossed the northbound lanes. It struck a van and a light pole before plunging through the guardrail, Bonner said. The van driver was not injured.

The bus hit the roof of a two-story apartment building before landing in the yard on the hillside beneath the bridge.

Firefighters were seen crawling among the wreckage of the two sections of the bus and performing first aid on a victim atop the roof. Victims, some of them dazed and bleeding, could be seen below the bridge. Firefighters were performing CPR on at least one victim.

Dave Chacone, who was staying in the apartment building that was hit, said he was standing on a porch under the bridge when the bus fell.

“We were outside talking, heard a noise, looked up and saw this bus coming,” he said. “I looked up and saw some big chunks [of concrete railing] coming right at me.”

The Fremont district is beneath the bridge. It is a densely populated neighborhood of homes, apartments, shops and restaurants.