(Los Angeles) A bus passenger died Wednesday in Los Angeles after an armed man boarded the bus for a hostage situation that sparked a spectacular chase with police, authorities said.
The suspect boarded the bus shortly before 1 a.m., and “the chase lasted approximately one hour,” Los Angeles police told X.
There were two passengers and the driver on board.
Throughout the chase, he drove at gunpoint, followed by a swarm of police cars.
The driver “displayed incredible composure in sounding a silent alarm to alert law enforcement,” Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn said at a news conference.
Harrows were deployed to puncture the tires of the bus, which finally stopped after several kilometers at a crossroads in the city center.
The intervention of the SWAT, an elite American unit, was requested because the suspect “was still in the bus with hostages,” added the Los Angeles police.
Officers surrounded the bus and boarded it, using stun grenades and non-lethal munitions, authorities said.
The suspect, who has not been identified, has been taken into custody.
One of the passengers was shot when he was rescued. He died after being taken to hospital.
The other passenger and the driver were treated by first responders and are “unharmed,” according to police.
The tragedy comes after a series of violent attacks on public transport in Los Angeles in recent months.
In March, an armed man hijacked a bus, took the wheel and caused a collision with several vehicles before ending up in a hotel.
In April, a woman died after being stabbed in a metro station in the city.
Los Angeles is set to host the 2028 Olympics and its Democratic mayor Karen Bass has promised to focus on public transport so that visitors from around the world can experience a “car-free Games”.
In May, the Democratic lawmaker ordered an increase in the number of security guards in the metropolis’s transportation system.
“What happened this morning is completely unacceptable and has no place in Los Angeles,” said M.me Bass in a statement.
The mayor assured that he wanted to “work urgently” with the public transport management “to improve the security strategies that we implemented at the beginning of this year.”