Thursday, 4:30 PM
MBTA driver barely avoids getting shot
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
An MBTA bus driver narrowly missed getting shot this afternoon by an armed robber who climbed aboard her bus in Chelsea and opened fire when she refused to hand over her money, police said.
"She was lucky. She's OK,'" said Chelsea Police Captain Brian Kyes. "Shaken up, obviously, but she was not struck."
Kyes said the driver was alone on the 111 bus at about 4 p.m,. when she stopped on Garfield Avenue near the intersection with Exeter Street to pick up a man waiting at a bus stop. The man boarded and then pulled out a small handgun and pointed it at the driver, asking for her personal valuables, Kyes said.
"He demanded her money and she refused," Kyes said. "He became agitated because of that, raised the weapon ...and fired three rounds in her direction." Just before the man fired, the driver dropped to the floor, Kyes said.
One bullet struck the seat where the woman was sitting just seconds earlier, he said, and another slammed into the fare box on the bus. He was not sure where the third round went.
The suspect was described as a white male 20 to 30 years of age with "heavy acne" on his face. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt when he boarded the bus, Kyes said.
Transit and Chelsea police are investigating but have not located the suspect, Kyes said.
