Full Notification

A 25-year old Los Angeles man was arrested Tuesday evening and charged with shooting a MTA bus operator in the face with a pellet gun. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus operator was hit as he sat behind the wheel of a stopped bus dropping off passengers in Los Angeles.

The suspect allegedly got into a dispute with the 54-year old bus operator over the suspect's refusal to pay his bus fare. He got off the bus on Main St. at 50th St. about 7:00PM. The suspect then ran after the bus and caught up to it at Main St. and 53rd St.

While the bus operator was letting off passengers, the suspect approached the open door and fired three rounds from the pellet gun at him. One round struck the bus operator in the right cheek. The suspect then ran from the area.

Fortunately, the bus operator suffered only minor injuries.

The bus operator called Transit Services Bureau sheriff's deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department , who responded to the scene. Deputies reported the suspect's description to other Transit Services Bureau deputies and area police officers with the Los Angeles Police Department.

At about 8:00PM, deputies met with LAPD officers near 62nd Street & Flower Street, where observant LAPD officers were detaining and arresting Suspect Victor Alfonso Martinez for an unrelated nearby robbery.

Suspect Martinez matched the description of the assault suspect and was in possession of a pellet gun. These factors and other evidence including witness statements, will result in sheriff's detectives seeking to file additional charges against the suspect for the assault with the pellet gun on the bus operator.


Captain Mike Parker
Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
(323) 267-4800
www.lasd.org