Metro hijacking ‘hurts everything we’re trying to do,’ says L.A. Supervisor

After an armed suspect hijacked a Metro bus and fatally shot a passenger early Wednesday morning, L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said it’s time to stop tragedies on the transportation system.

“It hurts everything we're trying to do to get more people to come back and ride Metro,” she told L.A.’s Morning News.

Hahn, who also serves as Chair of the Metro Board, said Metro will soon begin testing three different weapon detection technologies to prevent people from bringing weapons on trains and buses.

“We just can't afford not to really do everything we can to keep weapons off the system,” she said. “We can't have people coming out with guns with knives.
There have been metal pipes that have been used. Our bus drivers and operators have been assaulted so we got to figure this out.”

Hahn also praised the bus driver for hitting the alert button.

“This bus driver calmly and with great determination, pushed the alarm button which scrolled the message on the front of the bus saying ‘911 emergency. Call police,” she said. “Also alerting our operations center, which is why LAPD had such a great fast response.”

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She added that she plans to take the Metro bus to the Metro Board meeting on Thursday.

Hahn will join Mayor Karen Bass and law enforcement for a news conference on Metro’s safety plan at 2 p.m.

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