Over the course of just six and a half hours on Monday, two Los Angeles Metro buses found themselves in dangerous and terrifying situations.
The first incident happened around 3:15 a.m. when a Metro bus carrying passengers was attacked near West Olympic and Flower Streets downtown by people who had gathered for a street occupation involving an estimated 50 vehicles.
The bus operator said the rioters set off fireworks at the bus and covered it in graffiti.
There were also reports that the same group had “tagged” nearby buildings and attempted to break into a Starbucks on 9th and Flower Streets, but were eventually dispersed by Los Angeles Police Department officers.
It was unclear whether any arrests were made and there were no reports of injuries.
A subway bus is attacked with fireworks in downtown Los Angeles on July 1, 2024. (OnScene.TV)
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, said law enforcement needed to step up when it came to the continuing problem of street squatting.
“It’s your job to protect the public,” he told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo. “It has to be policed, it has to be stopped. We’ve repeatedly called for a permanent joint task force between the LAPD, LAPD and state agencies — to monitor, identify, seize and arrest.”
Shortly after that incident, at 9:45 a.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies surrounded a Metro bus at Los Feliz and San Fernando Boulevards in Glendale after receiving a report of an armed passenger.
According to authorities, after all passengers had disembarked, the bus driver was finishing his shift when he noticed a passenger slumped in his seat and appearing to be asleep, still holding a gun.
On July 1, 2024, police responded to a report of an armed suspect on a bus in Glendale. (KTLA)
A SWAT team was called in and used a loudspeaker to try and wake the suspect, while they were able to observe the man on Metro’s real-time surveillance cameras inside the bus.
The suspect was eventually taken into custody without incident at 11:45 a.m. and a firearm was recovered at the scene.
“He woke up,” Deputy Sheriff Lucas Darland said, “There was absolutely no violent situation or confrontation.”
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been plagued by recent violence, including several fatal accidents on buses and trains.
In May, Metro’s bus operator implemented a “sick out” policy affecting several bus routes to draw attention to what it called a safety crisis.
In late June, Los Angeles Metro board members voted to move forward with a five-year transition to create the Department of Transportation Community Public Safety.
Metro, which had its own transit police force from 1978 to 1997, now contracts with the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Regional Development District and the Long Beach Police Department for security, but transit agency officials have criticized the law enforcement officers they hire to ensure passenger safety.