No one was injured Monday afternoon when a car reportedly involved in a shooting drove seven blocks and collided with a school bus in the South Hill area, sheriff’s deputies said.
Initial reports that the bus was hit by a bullet were incorrect, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.
In fact, most students on the bus from Zeiger Elementary School didn’t know anything about the shooting, Troyer said.
Deputies eventually arrested one man and questioned two others they suspected knew more.
Troyer gave this account:
Shots were fired from a silver Honda with three occupants at another vehicle about 3:30 p.m. at 136th Street and Meridian Avenue East. Deputies believe the shooting was road rage.
A window of the Honda was shot out from the inside with a weapon that appeared to be a handgun.
The Honda then drove down 136th and made an illegal turn through a red light in front of the bus at 94th Avenue East, which caused the bus to clip the rear of the vehicle.
The Honda then drove off, and deputies later found it abandoned in Spanaway.
They arrested a 32-year-old man found near Pacific Avenue and 121st Street South in Parkland for investigation of assault, hit and run, and possession of stolen property. The group appeared to have swapped vehicles.
Two other men were taken in for questioning.
Puyallup School District spokesman Brian Fox said 20 children were on the bus at the time of the crash.
They were taken back to the school on a different bus, and staff members contacted parents, he said.
Alexis Krell: 253-597-8268
alexis.krell@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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