Dennis was running late yesterday, so I drove him to work. We got stuck in traffic on Pine Street. It’s often a bit crowded around 9:30, but it was solid traffic. We saw a valet parking attendant actually stood in traffic so a driver could pull out of his lot.
I was slightly irritated. I think Dennis was too when he said, “I’m just going to walk the rest of the way.”
I said okay and he hopped out of the car. I turned up 6th avenue then onto Pike so I could get out of downtown the quickest way possible. By the time I got home, Dennis discovered what happened and I got a text.
A bus driver was shot.
Here is the basics of what happened from the Seattle Times
“Three people used a rear door to board the bus, including a man in a hooded, dark-colored sweatshirt.
The driver asked the three to pay their fares, and two complied. But the man in the sweatshirt paced back and forth inside the bus, then physically attacked the 64-year-old driver.”
the rest of the article is here. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021599613_busshootingxml.html
A single zone bus fare at Peak Hours is: $2.50.
Thankfully driver is okay, he is at the hospital. Other people had injuries due to the escape and subsequent chasing down of the man who was shot by the police and died at the hospital. We will never know why the assailant went ballistic. From the article, he suffered from mental health issues.
I know this was an isolated incident. I know that Dennis would not have been on that bus because it was the 27 southbound (Dennis might have been on the 27 northbound which makes it feel somewhat close to home.)
We live in a city with over a million people. It is amazing that Seattle is as safe as it is. More importantly when life’s little irritations get me angry, I hope I’ll remember that I don’t know what happened three blocks away. My tiny inconvenience is not comparable to what happened.
My thoughts go out to anyone who was injured, the police officers and to the driver of the bus and the driver’s family.
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