Wednesday, January 25, 2006

The Gunman on the Ashland Bus

About 9:45 a.m. I was reading Hoy on the Ashland bus, like I do many a morning. We were passing the Riverside Square shopping center, just south of Archer Avenue, when someone hollered and shook the back door to get off. I looked up at the noise, and there was a man at the back exit pointing a gun at the guy in the back corner of the bus!

The bus stopped and the gunman got off. The man in the back corner hollered, "I'm bleeding!" He went to the front of the bus, borrowed a cell phone and called the cops. "Yes, I was shot," he said into the phone. "I was shot. I'm bleeding." Apparently he'd been grazed in the head by the bullet.

The gunman must have been using a silencer because there was no noise. It was bizarre! I kept looking in the back for a bullet hole but couldn't see one.

"I wasn't even talking to him," the victim declared.

The bus driver, a middle aged black lady, handled the situation very professionally. She pulled over underneath the Stevenson, just before the Orange Line, and handed out cards so people could write up their eyewitness accounts. I had nothing to say--I couldn't even give a description of the shooter except maybe he had on a red and white jacket. I remember red and white, and a guy, and a gun. That's it.

"I don't know him, but I recognize him," the driver said. "He rides this bus all the time. Don't worry. He'll get caught."

Yeah, maybe, but I think I'll stay off the Ashland bus for a few days, anyway. Whew!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

God, Mo, are you OK? that's pretty scary! I know you won't loose faith in public trans, but still, v. scary.
AS

Windy Citizen Share