A man accused of fatally shooting a passenger aboard a Metro bus last year, then hijacking the vehicle and sparking a chase from South Los Angeles to downtown pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder and other charges.
Lamont Campbell, 51, is charged with one count each of murder, carjacking, kidnapping during a carjacking, assault with a handgun, attempted murder, robbery, felony evading and being a felon in possession of a firearm, along with four counts of kidnapping involving the alleged crimes last Sept. 25.
The shooting and hijacking occurred about 12:45 a.m. that day near Manchester Avenue and Figueroa Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Six alleged victims are identified in the criminal complaint, including the man who died — Anthony Rivera, 48, of Los Angeles — and the bus driver, Dennis Contreras.
Campbell allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Rivera multiple times, demanded that the bus driver drive the vehicle and robbed a fellow passenger, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Another passenger was found hiding on the bus when Campbell was eventually taken into custody, but there were other passengers who managed to escape from the vehicle, now-former District Attorney George Gascón said last year.
Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Blake Chow told reporters that officers initially went to the area of Manchester Avenue and Figueroa Street in response to radio calls of a disturbance and possible assault with a deadly weapon on a bus, and that the bus driver had activated a panic alarm.
Police ultimately found the bus at 117th Street and Figueroa in South Los Angeles, set up near the vehicle and interviewed someone who had gotten off the bus, then realized that there might be an armed suspect aboard, Chow said soon afterward.
Officers tried to make contact with the bus occupants using public address systems, but the bus slowly rolled away and led officers on what wound up being about an hour-long pursuit that ended as a result of a spike strip and officers disabling the vehicle, the assistant chief said.
SWAT officers had joined the chase after police determined there might be a “possible hostage situation,” and arrested the suspect in downtown Los Angeles after using “distraction techniques” and boarding the bus, where the driver and a passenger who had been hiding were rescued, Chow said.
Rivera was found with multiple gunshot wounds and died after being taken to a hospital, the assistant chief said.
Prosecutors contend Campbell has a string of drug-related convictions dating back as far as 1993.
The shooting and hijacking again renewed concerns about safety aboard the Metro transit system. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who chairs the Metro Board of Directors, noted last year that Rivera, a former National Guardsman, had relied on Metro to get back and forth from his job as a parking attendant at Dodger Stadium. She lauded the bus driver, saying he “safely drove his bus for over an hour” before police were able to stop the vehicle.
“Holding the person who committed this heinous crime accountable for his actions is an important step in helping to dissuade further crime in our system,” said Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins.
Campbell — who remains jailed — is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom March 12. A date is scheduled to be set then for a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial.