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Atlanta police have recognized the alleged hijacker who they are saying held a bus driver at gunpoint and held the remaining 17 commuters hostage as he led police on a 15-mile chase by means of a number of jurisdictions, together with the passenger he shot lifeless.
Joseph Grier, 39, was taken into custody with out incident after a chase that spanned a number of jurisdictions and concerned a number of companies, the Atlanta Police Division wrote in an announcement. The frenzy-hour chase zigzagged throughout freeway lanes and suburban streets, with the bus careening into different automobiles and crossing into opposing visitors.
Grier was booked into the Fulton County Jail on greater than two dozen expenses, together with homicide, 14 counts of kidnapping, 13 counts of aggravated assault, hijacking a motorized vehicle, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in line with on-line jail information.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum stated at a Tuesday press convention that Grier was a convicted felon with 19 earlier arrests, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
CROWDED PUBLIC BUS HIJACKED, TAKEN ON WILD HIGH-SPEED CHASE DOWN ATLANTA FREEWAY; 1 KILLED
Joseph Grier, 39, is the suspect who reportedly led police on a wild chase. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Workplace)
Based on the Georgia Division of Corrections, Grier was final launched from Baldwin State Jail a decade in the past after serving time for an aggravated assault in 2011. He has additionally served time for possession of a knife throughout a fee of a criminal offense, the company advised Fox 5 Atlanta.
Schierbaum additionally introduced the identification of the slain passenger, 58-year-old Earnest Byrd Jr., on the convention.
OFF-DUTY ATLANTA POLICE OFFICER SHOOTS CONVICTED FELON WHO OPENED FIRE IN FOOD COURT, INJURING 3 PEOPLE
A hijacked bus barrels down an Atlanta freeway. (WAGA)
Grier’s father’s associate advised Fox 5 Atlanta that the hijacking suspect was identified with bipolar dysfunction and schizophrenia, had struggled with psychological sickness for 16 years and had been receiving medical remedy.
She described Grier as having a gentle, calm and loving demeanor when he’s well-rested and taking his medicine. However he had stopped following his remedy plan after shedding a job just lately, she stated, and had not been getting a lot sleep.
She advised the outlet that relations had been encouraging him to relaxation as just lately as yesterday and that she turned on the information herself to observe the police chase in progress after receiving a name from a buddy.
GEORGIA MAN ACCUSED OF ATTACKING PREGNANT WOMAN IS REPEAT OFFENDER IN ATLANTA AREA: POLICE
Atlanta police stated the suspect is 39-year-old Joseph Grier. (WAGA-TV)
“My God, Lord have mercy, it is Joseph,” she stated. “I really feel unhealthy. My coronary heart goes out to the opposite household, but it surely might have been a lot worse. There have been 17 individuals on that bus. Suppose all of them obtained shot?”
Atlanta Police Zone 5 officers responded to the hostage state of affairs at 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd. NE at roughly 4:35 p.m. As they approached, the bus reportedly fled the situation. Seventeen passengers had been trapped onboard.
Grier had gotten right into a battle with one other passenger on the Gwinnett County Transit bus, the Georgia Bureau of Transportation wrote in an announcement.
“Grier took the gun from the passenger and commenced threatening passengers with it,” the GBI stated of their information launch. “Grier then shot the passenger and ordered the bus driver to flee the scene whereas threatening passengers with the gun.”
A passenger trapped contained in the bus with the gunman had surreptitiously referred to as 911, per the press convention. One other name quickly got here from the household of one other passenger, who had texted them in regards to the hijacking.
Police managed to cease the bus with spike strips close to Hugh Howell Street in Stone Mountain after a 15-mile chase up I-85.
Video shot by FOX 5 Atlanta exhibits police main Grier away from the bus in handcuffs after it stopped in neighboring DeKalb County.
Video additionally shot by the station seems to point out the bus hitting a number of autos earlier than it got here to a cease.
One passenger with a gunshot wound was taken to an space hospital, the place they succumbed to their accidents. No different passengers had been injured, the company wrote.
Police stated their investigation is ongoing.
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The chase got here not lengthy after a gunman opened fireplace on a number of individuals at a meals court docket in downtown Atlanta earlier than an off-duty officer shot him, ending the incident.
Fox Information Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
Atlanta hijacker who led police on wild chase in crowded public bus recognized
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