DURHAM, NC. (THECOUNT) — Durham Police said they believe a school bus driver may have ordered the shooting of a 17-year-old Northern High School student in late May.
According to a search warrant, the teen had just exited the bus May 29 when gunfire rang out from some nearby bushes near his home on Dearborn Drive and Old Oxford Road in north Durham.
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Bullets struck the family’s home but luckily missed the teen.
Investigators said they now believe the school bus driver may have arranged the attack via text message all while transporting the boy to his destination.
Authorities wrote in the search warrant that the bus driver had some sort of altercation with one of the boy’s relatives before the shooting.
Police said security video from school bus No. 611 showed the bus driver engaged in a verbal confrontation with the teenager shortly before shots rang out.
According to investigators, the video also shows the driver texting throughout the bus route and the moment the student exited the bus.
Police said, although the shooting was in plain sight, the bus driver never reported it to school staff members or authorities.
DPS released the following statement:
“Our bus drivers as a group are committed to keeping students safe on the road and at bus stops. We will not accept any conduct by a school bus driver that does not uphold this commitment.”
Durham Public Schools said the substitute driver was fired the following day for not reporting the incident and for texting and driving, reports ABC11.
The driver had been employed with the school district since September. The teen nor the bus driver were identified by officials.
DEVELOPING.
Geo quick facts: Durham is a city in North Carolina. It’s part of the Research Triangle Region, known for its technology companies and scholarly institutions. On the Duke University campus are the neo-Gothic Duke Chapel and the Nasher Museum of Art, with work by contemporary artists like Christian Marclay and Ai Weiwei. The Museum of Life + Science has hands-on exhibits, a butterfly house and wildlife habitats for bears and lemurs – wikipedia.