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American Morning
Police Trying to Figure Out Bus Attack
Aired October 01, 2002 - 08:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now back out to California. More on that terrifying attack aboard a bus in Fresno. Police are trying to figure out exactly what happened. The bus ran off a freeway near Fresno, ended up in a field.
James Hattori is standing by there now before the sun comes up with the very latest -- good morning, James.
What have you learned?
JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Yes, indeed, the big question this morning is what motivated a passenger aboard the Greyhound bus you can see still behind me to suddenly get up and attack a driver, forcing him to lose control and the bus to end up on its side in a cotton field?
Forty-six passengers were on board the Los Angeles to San Francisco bus. Two are dead, three seriously injured. They were evacuated by helicopter. Among them, the driver, who suffered a neck wound. He's now reported in stable condition.
It all happened around 9:00 p.m. West Coast time last night. Many passengers aboard were asleep in the bus at the time when the suspect suddenly rushed toward the driver.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was sitting there and I noticed some guy come running up from the back of the bus. And he went running up and I heard from somebody here that he actually had a knife of some sort and I think he actually might have cut the driver's neck, I heard, with a knife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HATTORI: The suspect is described as a Hispanic male from southern California. He was taken into custody when he tried to run from the scene. There's no indication as to why he attacked the driver. No threats were made. There was no warning. Investigators, Paula, this morning are saying that they are looking into the possibility that he was mentally unstable -- Paula, that's the latest here.
ZAHN: James, is there any more information on who the suspect is at all? Anything about where he worked, where he's from? HATTORI: Well, they're still going over the bus manifests. They keep track of where passengers got on and off. It made several stops before getting to Coalinga (ph), which is right prior to the accident here, the incident here. He might have gotten on in Los Angeles or somewhere else. They do know he was from southern California and that he is Hispanic, that he speaks Spanish preliminary and there may be some language difficulty in that. They're still trying to sort out just who this man is -- Paula.
ZAHN: James Hattori, thanks.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 1, 2002 - 08:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now back out to California. More on that terrifying attack aboard a bus in Fresno. Police are trying to figure out exactly what happened. The bus ran off a freeway near Fresno, ended up in a field.
James Hattori is standing by there now before the sun comes up with the very latest -- good morning, James.
What have you learned?
JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Yes, indeed, the big question this morning is what motivated a passenger aboard the Greyhound bus you can see still behind me to suddenly get up and attack a driver, forcing him to lose control and the bus to end up on its side in a cotton field?
Forty-six passengers were on board the Los Angeles to San Francisco bus. Two are dead, three seriously injured. They were evacuated by helicopter. Among them, the driver, who suffered a neck wound. He's now reported in stable condition.
It all happened around 9:00 p.m. West Coast time last night. Many passengers aboard were asleep in the bus at the time when the suspect suddenly rushed toward the driver.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was sitting there and I noticed some guy come running up from the back of the bus. And he went running up and I heard from somebody here that he actually had a knife of some sort and I think he actually might have cut the driver's neck, I heard, with a knife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HATTORI: The suspect is described as a Hispanic male from southern California. He was taken into custody when he tried to run from the scene. There's no indication as to why he attacked the driver. No threats were made. There was no warning. Investigators, Paula, this morning are saying that they are looking into the possibility that he was mentally unstable -- Paula, that's the latest here.
ZAHN: James, is there any more information on who the suspect is at all? Anything about where he worked, where he's from? HATTORI: Well, they're still going over the bus manifests. They keep track of where passengers got on and off. It made several stops before getting to Coalinga (ph), which is right prior to the accident here, the incident here. He might have gotten on in Los Angeles or somewhere else. They do know he was from southern California and that he is Hispanic, that he speaks Spanish preliminary and there may be some language difficulty in that. They're still trying to sort out just who this man is -- Paula.
ZAHN: James Hattori, thanks.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
