Pasco bus attacker drove to the school and asked for a lift. Then he pulled a knife

The suspect in Friday’s killing of a Pasco school bus driver allegedly asked for a ride to Road 100 before pulling out a knife and stabbing him several times.

Joshua Dian Davis, 34, had forced his way onto the bus through the front bus door after knocking on it as the bus was pulling away from Longfellow Elementary School with 35 students onboard.

The school bus was equipped with video surveillance and captured the entire attack on driver Richard L. Lenhart, according to court documents written by Pasco Detective Julie Lee.

Lenhart, 72, died after being rushed to a Tri-Cities hospital. The Kennewick man had been a driver for the Pasco School District for six years.

Davis, a Richland resident, waited around for police to arrive at the school just off 10th Avenue but refused to talk to officers about the deadly encounter.

Reports of what happened are based off initial interviews with students who were on the school bus, along with the bus’ video system, documents said.

Davis is charged in Franklin County Superior Court with first-degree murder. He is scheduled to return to court Oct. 12 to enter a plea.

In the meantime, he is being held on $1 million bail.

Davis made his first appearance in court Monday via video feed from the Franklin County jail. He objected to wearing restraints during the nine-minute hearing.

Prosecutor Shawn Sant left it up to the corrections officers in the jail room with Davis to say if they had security concerns.

One officer told Judge Cameron Mitchell that Davis “has been cooperative” since being booked into the jail Friday afternoon.

Defense attorney Eric Scott, who was seated next to Davis, added that there were four corrections officers in the room with them and that it was an important constitutional right at stake.

Mitchell noted that the court documents allege “very violent behavior” and resulted in serious charges, but granted Davis’ request to temporarily remove his handcuffs given the heavy presence of law enforcement in the jail room.

Court records show Davis has no criminal history.

He had a contact with law enforcement in 2019, when he was taken to a medical facility after a Pasco officer and a mental health professional checked on him.

Otherwise, he had just one court case involving failing to transfer a title on a car in 2008.

Friday attack

Last Friday at 3:08 p.m., police were dispatched to a vehicle accident in the parking lot of Longfellow school. Reports came in to emergency dispatchers that it included a stabbing.

Police were en route when they learned the bus was full of elementary children, and that the alleged assailant was wearing a red shirt.

Officers “verbally detained” Davis — who had on a red shirt — while they developed probable cause, then handcuffed him at the scene after getting confirmation that he was the suspect.

Officer Corey Smith tried to interview Davis, but he immediately asked for a lawyer.

“A knife that appeared to have blood on the blade was found on the ground, just across from where Davis was detained,” court documents said.

Students who were onboard the bus and on school grounds were taken inside a building for their safety and to wait for their parents. Some kids told police how Davis got onto the bus and proceeded to stab Lenhart, which caused the school bus to crash into a large bush in the parking lot.

When Davis initially approached the bus he appeared to be unarmed, and Lenhart opened the doors to see what he wanted, Pasco police said in a Monday news release.

“On an active street in the middle of the afternoon, in view of others, opening the door to see what the man wanted would not normally be considered a risky action,” said police.

But Davis stepped onto the bus, and video footage showed Davis ask, “Does this bus go to Road 100?”

When Lenhart said it didn’t, Davis turned to leave, then pulled out a knife, and turned back and stabbed the driver.

During the attack, Lenhart’s foot slipped off the brake and the bus rolled forward, over a curb and was stopped by landscaping and a tree.

Then, Davis reportedly got off the crashed bus without any threat to the children.

Police Chief Ken Roske said at a news conference Monday that as Lenhart was dying, he was alert enough to know that others from the school were making sure the children were OK.

‘We all want to know why’

It’s still not known why Davis got on that particular bus.

“We are learning a lot about this tragedy and our detectives are following up on a lot of leads,” Roske said. “We all want to know why this occurred. As of right now, I don’t have an answer as to why and we are doing our best to gather that information.”

Davis had driven himself to the school in a truck and parked nearby about seven minutes earlier.

He was seen on security video getting out of his truck at a house just doors away from the school and running toward the parked bus.

Davis briefly returned to his truck after stabbing Lenhart, then went back to wait for police.

Detective Lee, in the court documents, points out that Davis would not have needed a ride to Road 100 — about 90 blocks from the scene — because he had a personal vehicle.

Online records show that Davis once lived just a couple of blocks west of the elementary school, and Lenhart had lived three blocks to the northwest.

Pasco police are asking anyone with information to contact Detective Lee by email at leej@pasco-wa.gov or to call the non-emergency dispatch number at 509-628-0333.

This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Pasco bus attacker drove to the school and asked for a lift. Then he pulled a knife."