On Monday afternoon, three masked teens ran onto a school bus in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and attempted to murder the last remaining student, a 14-year-old boy.
The bus was taking students home from Prince George’s County Alternative Middle School and had only one student left to drop off when three masked attackers, who are believed to be teens, barged onto the bus. They ran towards the student and one of the suspects pulled out a gun, held it up to the young boy’s head, and pulled the trigger.
Miraculously, the gun misfired three times. The three assailants then beat the student up before fleeing the scene.
The injuries sustained by the 14-year-old boy, as well as his current condition, are unknown.
The bus has an onboard video system that was able to capture the horrifying attempted murder. However, the school says it will not be releasing the video to the public.
Police reportedly found three live rounds on the floor of the school bus.
In a statement, police said, “One of the suspects displayed a handgun and attempted to shoot the victim multiple times but detectives believe the weapon malfunctioned.”
“They pulled the trigger three times, but for some reason, by the grace of God, the gun didn’t go off and bullets flew out of the gun,” said Martin Diggs, the head of the bus drivers’ union.
“This was an attempted murder, plain and simple,” added Diggs. “Call it what it is.”
Diggs revealed that both the driver and the aide on the bus were shaken from this incident, thinking that if the gun had not misfired they also would have been shot. Neither, however, were injured during the attack.
“They’re terrified,” Diggs said. “The one driver doesn’t even want to come back to work. They are terrified. They don’t even want to come out of the house.”
The Prince George’s County Police Department does not currently know the identities of the attackers and is actively seeking information about them.
Charoscar Coleman, the associate superintendent of Prince George’s County public schools, has asked students, families, faculty, and staff members to report anything they may know to law enforcement.
“We are outraged as a district,” Coleman said. “Horrified that this incident did occur.”
The school district also released a statement on the attempted shooting, saying, “We are horrified by this incident and grateful that no lives were lost. Our highest priority is keeping students, staff and families safe inside Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) classrooms, on school grounds and school buses.”
