Police arrested and charged a suspect accused of shooting innocent bus riders while aiming at another person. NBC New York’s Adam Harding reports.
Prosecutors in Queens have charged a local man with firing a pistol into a city bus this week, a shooting that wounded two passengers.
Melvin Adams, 43, of the Bronx, faces assault and weapons charges in the Thursday shooting in the Jamaica section of Queens.
It was not immediately clear whether he had a defense attorney who could comment on the charges.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said the shooting shattered the windshield of the Q8 bus near the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and 148th Street.
Adams had a “heated exchange of words” with a stranger before reaching into a backpack, pulling out a handgun and firing three rounds at the man.
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A 66-year-old passenger on the bus was struck in the shoulder, prosecutors said, and a 20-year-old passenger was struck in the hand by a bullet fragment. Both were taken to the hospital for treatment.
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The backpack Adams was carrying held an additional 15 rounds of ammunition, authorities said. Eleven other rounds remained in the magazine of the .40 caliber pistol.
“We can’t live in a world where a petty dispute on the street between strangers ends up with innocent people getting shot at on a city bus," Katz said in a news release.
