A maniac takes over a Georgian commuter bus carrying seventeen people, killing the hostage amid a furious police pursuit
According to authorities, a gunman shot and killed a passenger after taking over a commuter bus in downtown Atlanta that had seventeen people on board and holding a gun to the bus driver’s head.
Beginning about 4:30 p.m., Atlanta police received three different 911 calls reporting that shots had been fired and that a man was holding hostages aboard a Gwinnett County Transit bus near 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard.
As the suspect forced the bus driver to resume driving, responding policemen noticed that Joseph Grier, 39, was holding a gun to his head. This led to a frenzied police pursuit.
As the bus weaved in and out of traffic, it collided with many vehicles, including a Gwinnett County patrol car, and was chased by Georgia State Patrol cars.
It was captured on aerial film that the bus was speeding down the highway while other vehicles, in a state of terror, attempted to get out of the way.
The freeway was briefly completely blocked as police tried to halt the bus using a variety of strategies.
Police appeared to execute a “PIT” maneuver in a last-ditch effort to stop the bus, however 11alive claimed that the maneuver failed.
Spike strips were eventually used to immobilize the bus, according to the police.
It stopped around twenty miles away in Tucker, near the intersection of Rosser Road and Deer Ridge Drive on Hugh Howell Road.
People were spotted getting off the bus and waving their hands. First responders shot a victim during the chaos, and they started CPR on her right away.
The unidentified person was taken to a nearby hospital and later passed away, according to the police.
Greer was placed under arrest, and legal proceedings are ongoing.
According to Dennis Durham, who was driving out of Gusto on Hugh Howell in Tucker, he was hit by a car that was driving ahead of him when it abruptly pulled into reverse in an attempt to avoid the bus.
Durham remarked, “This bus is coming right at us. It just blew through a lot of these cars and made them crash into each other.” “My head was swimming from seeing so many police cars in so many different places.”
One man claimed to the outlet that his wife rode the bus with other passengers. She claimed that Greer seemed to be mentally ill.
Greer has been arrested 19 times in the past, including for carrying a firearm, according to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.