A fight erupted on a crowded Metro bus during rush hour Thursday between a group of more than a dozen rowdy teenagers and a passenger, two people who were on the bus told The Washington Post. When the bus reached the stop at 16th Street and Missouri Avenue NW, those involved in the confrontation piled off.
That’s when the shooting started, the passengers said.
Everyone remaining on the bus immediately dropped to the ground, shielding their heads and scrambling behind seats for cover, said Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, who was aboard the bus. But as five victims bled and teens cried hysterically outside, Allen-Ebrahimian said the bus did not move. Everyone on the bus began to plead with the driver to leave, she said, but he didn’t drive away or close the doors, saying city law required him to stay and report the shooting. A second passenger independently corroborated Allen-Ebrahimian’s account.
“We were trapped that way … until police arrived,” Allen-Ebrahimian said in an interview. She also posted about her experience on X.
The incident has raised questions about Metro’s safety protocols, including how operators are trained to respond in crises. Metro General Manager Randy Clarke on Friday said drivers have flexibility during emergencies “to look after their safety and their customers’ safety, period.”
When asked Friday whether he believed this operator had looked after customers’ safety, he deferred further questions to D.C. police, who are handling the investigation.
In a reply to Allen-Ebrahimian on X, Clarke said the incident is under investigation and reiterated that drivers have discretion when it comes to safety.
“You have my commitment that we take incidents like this seriously & full reviews occur to see if we can improve in any areas of procedures, training or response,” Clarke wrote on X. “The suspect needs be held accountable for the trauma they inflicted on the victims, witnesses & our operator.”
Two juveniles and three adults were shot, while the shooter fled and remains at large. None of the injuries are life-threatening, police said.
Allen-Ebrahimian, a former D.C. resident, said she was back in the city on a work trip and on her way to visit a relative in Maryland on Thursday night when a large group of young people boarded her northbound bus at 16th Street and Spring Road.
She said most of the young men were sporting camouflage masks covering their faces and described the group as “rambunctious,” but said they “just seemed like normal happy young people,” until one of them punched another young man sitting behind her on the bus. The group started getting off the bus at the next stop, and that’s when she heard gunfire.
“[A]ll of us lay prone in the bus floor, hoping that whoever had fired those shots wouldn’t fire any more, and wouldn’t come back on the bus,” she wrote on X.
Police have said the shooter immediately fled the scene. But Allen-Ebrahimian said the passengers had no way of knowing that. She doesn’t blame the driver, but she thinks Metro needs to review its policies and train for this kind of situation.
“What was so clear for anyone who was in that bus is that the obvious thing to do was to move the bus away from this dangerous situation,” she said.
Once police arrived, Allen-Ebrahimian said no one told the passengers it was safe to get up or asked them to remain on the scene as witnesses; they just gradually started moving and trickling away. She said there were people lying on the ground and blood all over the sidewalk.
“I’m really grateful that nobody died,” she said.
Meagan Flynn contributed to this report.
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