The hijacker held the driver at gunpoint, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said at a news conference Tuesday. Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said 17 people, including the driver, were aboard the bus.
Schierbaum declined to identify the victim and said the gunman’s motive was not clear.
Schierbaum said he was finishing a separate news conference regarding a shooting at an Atlanta food court on Tuesday afternoon when police received a call about a gunman holding hostages on a bus about a half-mile away.
Officers arrived at the scene around 4:35 p.m. and confronted the gunman, who then forced the driver to speed away, Schierbaum said. Video footage showed the bus was from Gwinnett County Transit.
As police chased the bus, they received another call from a bus passenger’s family member, who reported that the bus had been hijacked with hostages onboard, Schierbaum said. Shortly after, a passenger called 911 and left the line open during the chase, Schierbaum said.
Video showed the bus weaving between cars and driving on the wrong side of the road at one point. Police ultimately used an armored vehicle to block the bus on a road in Stone Mountain, Ga. — about 20 miles east from where the chase started — DeKalb County Police Chief Mirtha Ramos said.
Police said they took Grier into custody as passengers were loaded off the bus.
Grier could not be immediately reached for comment, and an attorney who represented him in a previous felony case didn’t immediately respond to a request.
Dickens said the chase was like something from “the movies.”
“I hope that those individuals that had to endure that frightening journey … can get some rest,” he said.
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