Global Courant 2023-05-29 19:27:54
A bus driver and a North Carolina passenger opened fire on each other after an argument over an unscheduled stop, leaving both men injured, recently released video shows.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers responded to a shooting at a Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) bus near the Charlotte Premium Outlet Mall on May 18, shortly before 11:20 a.m. Sharif Tobias.
The two men got into an argument after Tobias Fullard asked to let him out at an “unassigned bus stop,” CATS spokesperson Brandon Hunter told Fox News Digital. Fullard said no, which was then followed by a “two-minute escalation of verbal altercation,” Hunter said.
Both men proceeded to draw weapons. Video footage of the shooting shows Tobias walking towards Fullard while driving. The two men begin firing at each other, breaking glass in the chaos. Hunter stated that he did not know which man fired first.
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“There (were) two other bystanders on the bus. At this point they go back to the back of the bus to get away from the two gentlemen,” Hunter told Fox News Digital.
A bus driver and a passenger shot at each other in an incident on a bus in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 18, police say. (WJZY)
Video shows Tobias running to the back of the bus, with a bystander crawling into the aisle to get away from the shots.
The bus comes to a stop, after which one of the bystanders can get out.
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The video shows Fullard walking back into the bus, shooting, then exiting the bus through the front door and firing again.
Both Fullard and Tobias were transported to hospital following the incident, with Tobias suffering life-threatening injuries, according to a police press release. Fullard is recovering at home from non-life-threatening injuries, Hunter told Fox News Digital.
Tobias is charged with assault with a deadly weapon involving serious injury, making threats and carrying a concealed firearm, according to police.
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Fullard was fired by his employer, RATP Dev, after the shooting. Fox News Digital reached out to RATP Dev and Fullard’s attorney Ken Harris for comment. Harris told WSL-TV that Fullard feared for his life.
“We believe the situation could have been de-escalated because the bus operators have been trained in de-escalation,” Hunter told Fox News Digital. “And because the bus driver wasn’t at a bus stop, he could de-escalate it by letting the gentleman off the bus if he could have safely stopped the bus to let him off.”
Bus driver holds a gun after being shot at by a passenger. (WJZY)
Hunter also noted that while this was a “tragic incident”, situations like this don’t happen on a regular basis.
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“Ninety-nine percent of the time we have trips that don’t have any sort of discord like this. So this is an anomaly based on, you know, our system,” Hunter said.
“We will not be able to solve this problem alone,” Brent Cagle, interim CEO of CATS, said in a press release. “However, CATS is committed to doing what we can to address this with our partners at CMPD and our partners at RATP Dev who employ and manage our bus operators.”
Fox News’ Mitch Picasso contributed to this report.
Haley Chi-Sing is a Fox News digital production assistant. You can reach her at @haleychising on Twitter.
