Accused LA Metro bus hijacker charged with murder, kidnapping

Prosecutors filed murder, kidnapping, robbery, and carjacking charges Monday against the man suspected of hijacking an LA Metro bus last week, murdering a passenger, and leading police on an hour-long chase through downtown Los Angeles.

Lamont A. Campbell faces a total of 12 counts, including a special allegations for the use of a gun during the crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The criminal complaint revealed that at least 1 of the passengers on the hijacked bus was robbed during the ordeal, but officials said the motive behind Campbell’s alleged actions were still, “under investigation.”

“If Mr. Campbell is found guilty he’s facing a total of 90 years, 9 months to life in prison,” said LA County District Attorney George Gascón.

Campbell, 51, was arrested last week after LAPD SWAT officers stormed the bus, rescued the bus operator, and tried to save a wounded passenger, later identified as Anthony Rivera, who was bleeding from a gunshot wound to his thigh.

Rivera, 48, died at a hospital.

He was riding the Metro bus to commute home from his job at Dodger Stadium when it was commandeered.

“I just want justice for my boy,” Rivera’s mother Teresa told the I-Team last week, when she and other members of her family demanded that officials improve safety on public transit lines.

Several other passengers on the bus were described in court papers filed Monday as victims of various crimes that occurred during the hijacking.

LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who also chairs the Metro transit system board of directors, said crime that occurs on the Metro system is often a reflection of what goes on in the communities it serves.

“But when it happens on a Metro bus or a train, it obviously becomes national news,” Hahn said.

“And I think we’re not the only city that’s even had a bus hijacking, I think that happened in a couple of other cities across the country,” she said.

Hahn said she supports the installation of some kind of screening system to prevent people from carrying weapons on to busses or trains, and said she’d like to see a more visible law enforcement presence.