FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police and witnesses hailed the swift actions of a Broward Transit driver who, they said, swerved into oncoming traffic in order to reach the Fort Lauderdale Police Department after a gunman opened fire inside her bus.
Surveillance video captured the transit bus moments after the driver made the split-second decision to jump the median to arrive as quickly as possible to the police station, located along the 1100 block of Broward Boulevard, at around 3:30 p.m., Thursday.
“She pulled up in there like she knew where she was going,” said a woman who said she was standing near the transit bus. “She pulled up there, and as soon as she pulled up, police started coming out everywhere.”
Speaking with reporters about the shooting, Fort Lauderdale Police Acting Chief Luis Alvarez praised the bus driver’s quick thinking under extreme circumstances.
“I can tell you that the bus driver in this particular case, her quick actions, I am sure, saved lives,” he said.
Investigators said the driver was heading westbound near the 1100 block of Broward Boulevard when someone on the bus began shooting, striking four people.
Police identified the suspected gunman as 34-year-old Jamal Meyers.
As bullets flew, police said, the driver did not stop. Instead, she chose to go to the police station, located a couple of blocks away.
Alvarez said that decision proved to be difficult.
“As the bus was driving, it was pinned in and could not cross Broward Boulevard,” he said.
That’s when, police said, she crossed over the median into oncoming traffic, crashing into an SUV and a taxi cab.
“The driver forced the county bus past the vehicle that was blocking her and forced its way into the front of the police station,” said Alvarez.
The driver also ran over a stop sign before she was able to pull into the parking lot of the police station.
Surveillance video captured the bus as the driver weaved into eastbound traffic, dodged cars and narrowly missed a bicyclist.
“Once it passed 11th Avenue, I’m like, ‘Why are they driving on the wrong side of the road?’ The bus hit one car, then hit the other car, and then it just drove up into the police station,” said the woman who saw the transit bus, “and the police just started running out with their guns and everything and started letting the people out of the bus.”
One of the victims who was shot was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue units transported the other three victims to Broward Health Medical Center, where a second victim succumbed to their injuries.
One of the surviving victims is listed in critical condition, and the other is listed in fair condition.
Alvarez said that if the bus driver didn’t do what she did, this situation could have had a more dire outcome.
“Kudos to her. She deserves to be applauded for her actions,” he said.
Friday afternoon, the bus driver was identified by her union as Gwendolyn Whitfield.
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