Deadly bus hijacking suspect to appear in court, multiple homicides on Metro this year

A man suspected of killing a passenger when he allegedly hijacked a bus in Los Angeles is expected to soon appear in court as LA Metro leaders try to find potential solutions to safety issues following other deadly attacks this year.

Since January, five people have died following attacks on Metro buses and trains including the latest victim, who has not yet been identified, according to reports from law enforcement and what the latest available data from Metro appear to show. LA Metro has only released statistics on crime that are current through July. 

There were four homicides reported between January and June, killings that have also been confirmed by police agencies.

Then, early Wednesday, police said a rider on the Metro bus allegedly hijacked by Lamont Campbell was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds as Campbell was arrested by SWAT officers. The victim later died at a hospital.

Campbell, 51, was booked into Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown LA and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, county inmate records show. He is being held on $2 million bail. 

Authorities have not released details about what happened leading up to the fatal shooting as the investigation continues. 

Since Metro has not released data for the months of August and September, no information about any homicides potentially reported during that time is currently available. 

Homicides on LA Metro this year

Earlier this year, passengers, drivers and Metro leaders all acknowledged a problem with safety following what Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass described as a "spike in violent crime" she called "absolutely unacceptable." 

"Given what has happened on the trains and the buses, we did not want to wait for a meeting next week," Bass said on May 16, the month that has seen the most crimes against people this year, which include reports of assault, battery and homicide, according to the Metro reports detailing statistics. "We wanted to act immediately."

At the time, the agency said more law enforcement and security officers would be patrolling buses and trains. Just hours later, a man was shot and killed on a bus in Commerce. 

Between January and June, there were four homicides reported aboard the LA Metro transit system, according to data from the agency. In April, after 67-year-old Mirna Arauz was stabbed to death as she took the train home from work, her family spoke out and demanded justice. They set up a fundraiser to send money back to her native Nicaragua to pay for a proper funeral. 

"While we appreciate the first responders that tried to save her life, we hope that Mirna's death does not go unnoticed, and results in real change to the public safety efforts in the area," reads a message on the fundraising page written by her nephew. "It's a tragedy for the immigrant community of Los Angeles and for all that rely on the Metro to get home safe."

The four homicides reported between just January and June this year is more than the number of killings reported by Metro over the same 6-month span in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The pandemic, of course, led to a decline in ridership in 2020 which only picked up later. But even last year, there were two homicides reported between January and June compared to four this year.

For January through June, there was one homicide reported in 2022, two in 2021 and none in 2020, according to Metro data.

When looking at homicides reported over the entire year, there was one reported in 2019, three in 2020, five in 2021, six in 2022 and six in 2023. While the past two years saw more killings than the five the Metro system has seen so far this year, 2024 is on pace to see more homicides than in those past years if these tragic crimes continue being committed at the same rate. 

Earlier this year, following several attacks on drivers, they went on a strike of sorts — one transit workers' union blasting LA Metro and demanding changes after another alleged hijacking led to a bus crashing into a downtown LA hotel. At the same time, passengers are expressing their own concerns.

"One driver gets killed — that's when they're going to take action, probably," rider Antonio Teodores said Thursday. "But we don't want that to come. So we have to make these buses safer, for us and for the drivers too."

Meanwhile, Metro leaders have promised to eventually put solutions in place.

Metro leaders meet, discuss potential solutions

On Thursday, the LA Metro Board met and discussed things like technology that would detect weapons on riders. But the board did not approve any such new measures. Three types of that detection technology is still being researched while Metro leaders have promised to install more plastic barriers protecting bus drivers, which some said kept the driver in Wednesday's alleged hijacking safe. 

At the meeting, Metro officials applauded the driver, who local politicians and law enforcement officials have described as calm and courageous as he reached for a panic button and maintained his composure while Campbell allegedly held him at gunpoint.

LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who chairs the Metro Board, said weapons detection systems could be at least one potential solution.

"We can't allow people to get on our system with guns and knives and pipes," Hahn said as she headed into Thursday's meeting. "You can't get into a Dodger games with a weapon, you can't obviously go to the airport without going through a metal detector and you can't even get into concerts these days without going through a metal detector."

Bass, another board member who used to be chair, called for a report on the latest data on such weapons-detection systems to be compiled as soon as next month, hoping to potentially fast-track the use of such technology on the transit system.

Still, some Metro leaders have said the problem with violent crime on the transit system's buses and trains is part of a larger issue, one that exists in the broader Los Angeles area and is not just something Metro struggles with.  

"What happens on our buses is a reflection of what we're facing in our communities," LA Metro Stephanie Wiggins said Wednesday.