EmergencyNet News - Instant Update

11/27/98 - 20:30CST

Seattle, WA (EmergencyNet News) -- In what is being called a "bizarre incident," by police and paramedics, a city bus has plunged off a bridge and fell fifty feet into the side of an apartment building. According to a fire department spokesperson, the bus plunged from the Aurora Bridge, which crosses Seattle's Ship Canal.

At least two people, including the bus driver, have perished in the incident that took place at about 15:00PST this afternoon. Paramedics and firefighters say that numerous people had to be extricated from a very badly damaged bus.

Fire Department spokesperson Shelia Strehle was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that fifteen people were considered to be in critical condition and another ten were seriously injured. The injured were transported to six area hospitals by several ambulances that responded to the incident.

The most unusual part of the incident was the fact that at least two people on the bus were believed to have received gunshot wounds prior to the bus crashing off the overpass. Police say that they are still investigating the source and circumstances of the gunshot wounds, and that a handgun may have been recovered from the scene.

According to an officially unconfirmed report from a passenger, an unknown passenger approached the bus driver and "shot him." The bus then reportedly went out of control and crashed through a guard rail and onto the roof and side of an apartment building. Seattle police say that they are still gathering information at the time of this report and no arrests have been made at this time.

SEATTLE (EmergencyNet News) - Authorities in Seattle said a bus driver on a routine run into downtown Seattle was shot by a passenger on Friday and his out-of-control bus then plunged off a bridge, killing two people and injuring more than 30 others. The 44-year-old driver was thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. One suspect, who had a gunshot wound to the head, died later at Harborview Medical Center.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, quoting unidentified police sources, said on Saturday that the gunman had turned the gun on himself. Police concluded late Friday night that there was just one gunman.

Another 32 victims were taken for treatment to seven area hospitals, where two people were listed in critical condition and 11 in serious condition late on Friday.

Gunfire rang out aboard the King County Metro bus as it approached the Aurora Bridge heading south toward downtown shortly after 1500 PST (2300 GMT). A police spokesman said, "The bus then swerved into northbound lanes of traffic, striking one vehicle, a van." The bus crashed through a barrier, plunged more than 30 feet and came to rest against a two-story apartment building in the city's Fremont section, just a block from a busy shopping district.

According to a 13-year-old injured passenger on the bus, the attack came without warning. She said: "I saw two flashes and heard a loud pop-pop. I saw the bus driver and his blood."

Within minutes, dozens of emergency vehicles converged on the wreckage of the 60-foot-long bus. Police said the driver of the van was not hurt and no one was injured in the apartment building or on the ground. The 72-seat articulated bus landed with its two sections at right angles to each other and the accordion-like center section shredded open.

ERRI MORNING NEWS SUMMARY