Joseph Eric Grier Shooting: A hijacked Gwinnett County Transit bus carrying 17 people sped through traffic in many counties before coming to a stop just east of Tucker. One person died, and Joseph Grier, 39, was arrested in the shooting deat. According to the Atlanta Police Department, shortly after a 4:30 p.m. press conference in Downtown Atlanta concerning an active shooter situation at The Hub at Peachtree Center, 911 calls began to arrive about a fight on a Gwinnett County Transit bus at 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard NE.
What Happened In Gwinnett County
A hijacked Gwinnett County Transit bus carrying 17 people sped through traffic in many counties before coming to a stop just east of Tucker. When Atlanta police arrived, they said that the man fired at least one shot, striking a person on board. According to authorities, he then forced the bus driver to take off. Multiple police officers started chasing the bus. From downtown Atlanta, the bus got to the Downtown Connector and continued north on Interstate 85
The bus proceeded along the busy freeway around the onset of rush hour traffic. Police officers from Atlanta, DeKalb County, and Gwinnett County were joined by Georgia State Patrol Troopers. Officers set up a barrier at Jimmy Carter Boulevard, where the bus exited and continued east. Officers attempted to stop the bus many times with stop sticks. The bus eventually passed back into DeKalb County, where the road became Mountain Industrial Boulevard. Once in Tucker, the bus drove east again, following Hugh Howell Road to Stone Mountain.
Around 5:09 p.m., the bus came to a stop in the 5100 block of Hugh Howell Road, just before McCurdy Road. The DeKalb County SWAT team promptly put a Bearcat transport. The DeKalb County SWAT team promptly deployed a Bearcat transport in front of the bus to keep it from escaping the site again. Several passengers quickly stepped off the bus, hands in the air. A few minutes later, a person was spotted being escorted away by officers. Shortly after, the Atlanta Police Department verified that a suspect had been arrested. First responders were then spotted providing help to someone on the ground outside the bus.
Who hijacked a Gwinnett County Transit bus?
During a press conference around 7 p.m., Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum identified the suspect as Joseph Grier, 39 years old. According to Chief Shierbaum, Grier has been arrested 19 times, with several involving the use of a weapon. According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Grier was released from Baldwin State Prison a decade ago for an aggravated assault in Fulton County. In addition to the two counts of aggravated assault, Grier was sentenced for possessing a knife during the commission of a crime.
According to GDOC records, he also served time for aggravated assault in Cobb County in 2008 and child molestation in DeKalb County in 2005. According to the Fulton County Jail, Grier was arrested in 2017.Grier was arrested in 2017 for probation violation, in 2019 for criminal trespass, simple assault, and breach of a protection order, and in 2019 for aggravated battery and aggravated assault, according to the Fulton County Jail.
Grier was arrested in 2004 for disorderly conduct, in 2010 for not registering as a sex offender, and in 2017 for public indecency and battery-family violence, according to the DeKalb County Jail. According to the chief, Stone Mountain was his last known address. Grier’s charges for the incident on Tuesday are still pending.
