Greyhound bus shooter in Oroville sentenced to 74 years to life in prison
OROVILLE — The Sacramento man who killed one person and injured four others in a shooting on a Greyhound bus in Oroville in 2022 was sentenced to 74 years and eight months to life in prison, officials said Friday.
Asaahdi Coleman, 23, was convicted in April 2024 of murder and attempted murder for the shooting that happened on February 2, 2022. California's youthful offenders law, which applies to convicted murderers under 26, will mean Coleman can qualify for parole after 25 years, the Butte County District Attorney's Office.
Coleman boarded the Los Angeles-bound Greyhound bus in Redding, and it stopped at the AM/PM on Feather River and Oro Dam boulevards in Oroville. Passengers had reported Coleman grew agitated after a phone call and that he had shown a gun that was in his bag.
Coleman shot five people, killing Karen Dalton, 43. Dalton was on the bus traveling with her two children—an 11-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son. The girl was shot multiple times but survived. The boy was not injured.
The district attorney's office said the girl appeared virtually Friday, addressing the judge to say that she still has nightmares from the shooting that killed her mother.
The three others shot were a 38-year-old man, a 32-year-old man and a pregnant woman. The latter two were both hospitalized in critical condition, and all three survived.
That pregnant woman—Rose Whitley, 27—also sent in a statement to the courtroom, saying she still deals with constant pain from shrapnel lodged in her tailbone, the DA's office said. She delivered her baby prematurely.
The other victim who was in critical condition—Bobby Farber, now 34—was in the courtroom for Friday's hearing. The DA's office said he spoke from his wheelchair, noting that the shooting left him permanently paralyzed. Farber was shot eight times and spoke to CBS13 nearly three months after the shooting.
"I just heard boom. He's doing something with a gun. He looks at me, shrugs his shoulders and starts shooting again," Farber said in April 2022.
Coleman was arrested at a nearby Walmart and was naked. He was wanted out of Alameda County for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm at the time of the shooting.
According to prosecutors, a forensic psychologist determined that Coleman had narcissistic personality disorder and anti-social personality disorder. In court, Butte County Chief Deputy District Attorney Mark Murphy said these conditions showed Coleman was a "deeply defective and dangerous" person who deserved the maximum sentence, the DA's office said.