Man, 41, Arrested In Fatal Shooting Of MTA Bus Driver In WeHo
WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBS) — A 41-year-old Los Angeles man has been arrested for murder in connection with the fatal shooting of a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus driver in West Hollywood.
Anthony Craig Chambers is accused of shooting Allen Thomas just after 9 a.m. Sunday on Bus Route 105 took place on Santa Monica and La Cienega Boulevard.
According to authorities, a bus supervisor who was in the area for the Amgen Tour of California cycling race witnessed the bus drift backwards and hit a vehicle.
That person subsequently got on board the bus and saw the injured driver.
Thomas was taken to Cedar-Sinai Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, according to Mike Parker of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.
A motive for the killing was not immediately clear.
KNX 1070's Pete Demetriou reports friends and colleagues paid their respects on Monday at a memorial on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and West Knoll with flowers and candles surrounding a picture of Thomas, where fellow driver Francisco Reyes offered a prayer for his friend.
Podcast
"If you didn't have money, if you were hungry, you walked up to him, he didn't have to know you, he would gladly with a smile take some money out of his pocket and give it to you so you could eat," remembered Reyes.
Witness Risa Neimand told CBS2 and KCAL9 reporter Greg Mills that she saw sheriff's running toward the bus with guns drawn. "So I knew whatever was happening was pretty serious."
Chambers was the only passenger on the bus at the time of the incident, according to authorities.
Niemand works across the street from where the shooting occurred. She says the Chambers "was walking down the street, with his hands in the air. And he dropped to the floor like he was waiting to get arrested."
MTA told Mills the deceased was a 51-year-old driver who'd been with the company for five years.
Lt. Dave Dolson says, "As far as we know, there is no relationship between the shooter and the victim."
Chambers was booked at the West Hollywood Sheriff's Station for murder. He is being held on $1,000,000 bail. A booking photo was not release.
