Los Angeles, United States - September 25, 2024

09/25/2024 12:45 am (GMT-0700) | Los Angeles – SOT Transcript:

Good morning, I'm Deputy Chief Donald Graham of the Los Angeles Police Department. I'm the commanding officer of the Transit Services Bureau.

This morning at about 1245, officers from the southeast area began to receive radio calls in the area of Manchester, Boulevard and Figueroa Street. These radio calls consisted of a disturbance on a bus, unknown trouble on a bus, and potentially an assault with a deadly weapon that was occurring on the bus.

Officers immediately dispatched to the area where they discovered the bus at about 117th Street and Figueroa. At that point, the bus was stopped and officers from the southeast area set up on the bus and attempted to make contact with them using their PA systems. The bus responded by slow rolling away from the police officers and a pursuit began at that point. The pursuit lasted about an hour as officers from southeast area stayed behind the bus through a very circuitous route through South Los Angeles into the downtown area.

Southeast officers deployed multiple spike strips in an attempt to stop the bus. And the spike strips were finally effective on the bus in the area that you see behind me at Alameda Street, just south of 6th.

By that time, officers from our SWAT team had joined the pursuit package, understanding that there was a potential hostage situation that was occurring on the bus. When the bus came to a stop, officers used their training that we received from the MTA to disable the bus so that it could not move further. And officers from our SWAT team set up on the bus, made entry to the bus for dynamic rescue and ended up rescuing two individuals from the bus, as well as taking the suspect into custody.

A fourth person was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the bus. SWAT officers initiated medical treatment and were almost immediately replaced by Los Angeles Fire Department Thames paramedics. They removed the victim from the bus, transported him to a local hospital, where he unfortunately expired.

The suspect is in custody and the investigation is ongoing.

I'll take any questions that you have at this point. So two people rescued the bus driver, one passenger. Correct. The suspect in custody, a fourth person deceased, shot multiple times, died at the hospital. Correct. Was that person a passenger, that person who died?

At this point, we believe so, but we have not confirmed that yet. (Blank Audio) Were the other two passengers or is the bus driver harmed in any way? No.

Well, let me correct. The bus driver is unharmed. The second passenger that was found on the bus who had self barricaded in the back of the bus, they were shaken but unharmed. The third passenger on the bus expired from complications from the gunshot wounds, and then the suspect was taken into custody. What was the nature of it? What happened on board the bus? Why was this guy holding the bus driver hostage? We're still investigating that. We don't have the answers to that yet. Is there a report of an argument or something between the, no? Not yet. (Blank Audio) We don't have any information about that yet. Can you talk about the decision to use spike strips when there is a, a, a gunman in holding hostages on this bus? Yes, the deployment of spike strips is there to stop the vehicle from moving. Based upon the slow speed that the bus was going at the time, and the fact that there were individuals that were on the bus, the decision to stop the bus as quickly as possible would initiate the rescue of the individuals that were on the bus. (Blank Audio) Do you know about the person who died?

I don't have any information about the victim at this point. Nothing, I don't have anything at this point. Male or female, you don't know? Don't know anything about the victim at this point. We're still waiting for detectives to process that information, and we'll probably be putting that out throughout the day. I'm sorry, there was- And what information do you have on the suspect?

Again, don't have any information we're ready to discuss yet until the detectives get here and they begin to process it. Have you recovered the suspect's weapon? We have not at this time, but because we're still waiting for the detectives to begin the on scene processing of the crime scene, we have not touched anything since the victims were extracted from the bus. While the bus was stopped here, it appeared that there was not a lot of agitation by the suspect or commotion on board. Anything can you speak to his mental state, what he was going through? My understanding from talking to the leaders of SWAT is that he surrendered immediately, and there was no use of force at the end of the scene. When they took him in. Can you give us a recap one more time just for the two of us, just a quick recap? Certainly. So this morning about 1245, the radio calls were generated in the south. (Blank Audio)