L.A. Metro rider shot dead hours after MTA’s news conference on transit safety

A suspect is in custody after yet another deadly incident on a Metro transit bus, this time in Commerce, authorities confirmed to KTLA.

Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to Slauson and Boxford avenues just before 5 p.m. on reports of a person suffering from a gunshot wound, authorities said in a news release.

Authorities said that both victim and the suspect were passengers on the bus and that there were at least 7 other riders, as well as the driver, at the time of the incident.

“The suspect approached the victim from behind, pointed a firearm at the victim, the victim sustained a gunshot wound, the suspect fled on foot and he was captured shortly thereafter on Peachtree Street and Eastern Avenue,” LASD Lt. Arthur Spencer said.

The victim was later taken to a nearby hospital where they were pronounced deceased.

The shooting comes just hours after board members of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority held a press conference Thursday morning to discuss a rash of high-profile crimes across the Metro bus and train lines and announce plans to increase law enforcement presence throughout the system.

On May 13 alone, there were two separate stabbings aboard the Metro system. In the weeks leading up to those incidents, there was a stabbing on a train that left one woman dead in Studio City and another that left a bus driver and passenger in South Los Angeles injured.

On May 5, a driver on a Dash bus, which is operated by the city of L.A., was brutally assaulted by a homeless woman in an attack that was captured on video.

In March, a transient armed with an airsoft gun hijacked a Metro bus and crashed into the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Los Angeles.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who serves as chair of the Metro board, said she directed an “immediate surge” of law enforcement personnel on Metro buses, trains and stations to address the concerns of drivers and passengers.

MTA Board members, Bass and officials on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors were critical of the presence – or lack thereof – of law enforcement personnel on Metro transit buses and trains during Thursday’s news conference.

Metro contracts its law enforcement service to the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Long Beach Police Department. The value of those contracts total more than $150 million.

“We have a responsibility to each and every rider and bus driver: they have to feel safe on Metro,” said Metro Vice Chair and L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn at the news event. “Our law enforcement contracts are essential to safety, but they don’t do anyone any good if officers are not riding our trains and buses.”

The ongoing attacks led to Metro bus drivers staging a “sick out” and one Metro board member saying she was “afraid” and would not ride the system alone.

The board recently approved the acquisition of barriers to be placed between drivers and passengers on all Metro buses.

In a statement to KTLA about Thursday’s fatal shooting aboard a bus, Metro said:

“The tragic incident this afternoon aboard a Metro bus in the Commerce area exemplifies how violence is increasing in society overall and spilling into our local communities. Metro is saddened by this incident and extends our deepest sympathies to the victim’s family. Metro thanks the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for their quick apprehension of a person of interest. Anyone with any information about this incident should call the LASD Transit Services Bureau at 323-563-5000.”

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