1 Killed, 4 Hurt as Gunman Opens Fire in Oakland Bus

OAKLAND — A young man armed with an assault rifle boarded a bus early Friday and sprayed the inside of the vehicle with bullets, killing the driver and wounding four passengers before fleeing, police said.

Police speculated that the gunman, who was accompanied onto the bus by three other youths, may have attacked the bus in retaliation for an accident Thursday in which a bus collided with a car, killing a motorist.

The shooting occurred when the AC Transit bus stopped on its regular route for four young men at an intersection in North Oakland about 1:30 a.m. Friday.

“One of the individuals boarded the bus . . . armed with an assault-type rifle,” Police Lt. Jim Hahn said. “He opened fire on the driver and then in turn pointed the weapon on the passengers.

Gunshots Reported

“They could have been after one of the passengers or one of them might have been a relative of a woman who was killed in an accident” Thursday.

Officers, alerted by a resident who reported hearing gunshots on the bus, found five wounded people when they arrived.

Bus driver Billy Givens, 43, described as a popular driver who had worked 20 years for AC Transit, died at 2:22 a.m. at Highland Hospital. Givens was struck by more than a dozen gunshots.

Three passengers suffered superficial wounds and were treated at the scene. A fourth passenger, Julius Walker of Vallejo, was hospitalized in stable condition with gunshot wounds.

Fifteen other passengers, who were not injured, were questioned and then released. Some fled through windows of the bus when the shooting started.

Revenge Theory

The revenge theory involved Ellen Palmer, 52, of Oakland, whose compact car was hit by a bus after running a stoplight Thursday morning. The car was dragged nearly 50 feet and Palmer was killed. Givens was not the driver involved in the accident, police said.

AC driver Lester Dixon said two young men entered the district’s Emeryville maintenance yard Thursday night and asked the dispatcher “for the name of the driver who killed the young woman in the bus accident earlier in the day.” She refused to divulge the name. No threats were made.

No one has been formally arrested or charged, but two of Palmer’s sons, who live within a few blocks of the scene of the shooting, were taken into custody for questioning, Hahn said.

Clothing Found

The rifle and several sets of clothing matching that worn by the attackers were found later Friday under the porch of a vacant house about two blocks from the scene, Hahn said. The caliber of the weapon was not divulged.

Investigators also were checking whether the killing might have been drug-related revenge against one of the passengers. The area is plagued by drug dealing.