Man Allegedly Hijacks Gwinnett County Bus In High-Speed Chase With Atlanta Police

An Atlanta man is in police custody after allegedly hijacking a Gwinnett County Transit bus with 17 passengers on board and leading officers on a high-speed chase. The incident left one person dead before the bus was ultimately stopped just east of Tucker.

The Atlanta Police Department (APD) reported that 911 calls began to flow in regarding a fight that took place on a Gwinnett County Transit bus located at 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard NE. This was just moments after a press conference was held in Downtown Atlanta regarding an active shooter situation reported at The Hub at Peachtree Center.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that a man in his late 30s by the name of Joseph Grier allegedly got into an argument with a passenger that ultimately became a fight. After the passenger pulled out a gun, GBI reported that Grier took the weapon and threatened other passengers before shooting the man he was engaged in a fight with. He then forced the bus driver to take off, and the police chase began.

During the chase, the Gwinnett County transit bus’s sign glowed with the message, “CALL POLICE 911.”

“The Gwinnett County transit bus that was hijacked displayed this message as police pursued it through Metro Atlanta,” read a post shared to X by Fox 5 reporter Billy Heath III. “It switched between this message and ‘EMERGENCY.’ We’ve learned the bus driver had a gun to their head and was told to not stop.”

Once the bus left Downtown Atlanta, it got onto the Downtown Connector and began traveling northbound on Interstate 85. The chase began right at the start of rush hour traffic, and police officers from Atlanta, DeKalb County, and Gwinnett County, along with Georgia State Patrol troopers, were involved in the chase.

Officers attempted to use stop sticks several times to stop the bus and even formed a barricade at Jimmy Carter Boulevard, where the bus exited to begin heading east.

Eventually, once in Tucker, the bus turned east and began heading toward Stone Mountain before it was stopped in the 5100 block of Hugh Howell Road at approximately 5:09 p.m.

A Bearcat transport was placed in front of the bus by the DeKalb County SWAT team to prevent it from fleeing the scene again, and it wasn’t long before several people stepped off the bus with their hands in the air.

Just moments later, Grier was seen being led away by police, where he was later taken into custody. First responders were also seen giving aid to someone on the ground outside the bus, and another person was rushed to an area hospital, where Atlanta police reported that they were pronounced dead from their injuries. At this time, officers have not released the victim’s name.

Grier is the 39-year-old suspect who was taken into custody. Police report that he has an extensive track record of breaking the law and has been arrested 19 times, some for incidents that involved the use of a handgun.

He has also previously served time for aggravated assault, aggravated battery, criminal trespass, violation of a protective order, child molestation, and other crimes.

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