A woman was arrested after reportedly hitting a bus driver in the head with a hammer and pointing a gun at him on Sunday.
kali9/Getty ImagesA woman with a history of crime was arrested on Sunday after hitting a bus driver in the head and pointing a gun at him, officials said.
The 45-year-old female suspect was arrested and faces a smattering of charges, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said. Court records show the suspect has several prior felony convictions, and KTVU reported that the suspect was previously charged after pushing and injuring a passenger on a bus.
“I know of three other incidents related to her in the past year; some were arrests, and some were complaints,” Lt. Ray Kelly, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told SFGATE. “They’re all related to the bus.”
The driver was parked at the bus stop on San Leandro Street across from the Coliseum BART Station when the suspect approached him and pulled out a hammer, striking him in the back of the head, Kelly said.
The driver grabbed hold of the suspect and pushed her onto the ground, striking her in the face and head, the sheriff’s office said.
As deputies arrived on the scene, the driver released the suspect, and then she pulled out a semi-automatic pistol, pointed it at the driver and pulled the trigger, Kelly said.
“For some reason, miraculously, it did not fire,” he said. “It was loaded. It should have fired. It was one of those anomalies.”
Witnesses said the suspect told the driver she was going to kill him, documents from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said.
Kelly said the driver’s injuries were minor, but he was traumatized by the attack. The suspect was treated for her injuries at a local hospital before she was booked into Santa Rita Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.
The district attorney’s office said the suspect is still in custody and was supposed to have an arraignment Wednesday but refused to appear. Her arraignment was pushed to Thursday.
The sheriff’s office requested a restraining order to ban the suspect from AC Transit buses, Kelly said.
