Motive unknown.
Via Helena IR:
A bang and a flash rang out around 9:25 p.m. Wednesday in the Butte Civic Center parking lot before cops swarmed a bus and at last apprehended a man who had been engaged in armed standoff for nearly 10 hours.
Amazingly, no one was injured and no gunshots were fired.
At the scene, officers fired chemical agents into the bus after the flash and bang. The man then descended the bus steps with his hands up.
Once he was off the bus, officers with guns trained on the man made him remove his clothing. The suspect also removed what officers apparently believed could have been an explosive device strapped to his leg before he was taken into custody, wearing only bright purple boxers.
It was a relatively quick end to a prolonged and tense standoff.
After the man was in custody, a robot and a man in a bomb suit scanned the area around the bus.
An eyewitness said the incident began while bus was heading from Missoula to Billings and a man put a gun to the bus driver’s head and said he wanted to go to the Butte courthouse.
The driver drove to the Civic Center instead and purportedly told the man they had arrived at the courthouse. The driver then disabled the bus. The driver and the passengers, except for the one man who was held, were allowed to get off immediately, the witness said.
Terry Reed, manager of the bus transfer station, interviewed earlier in the afternoon, said the driver immediately called police, then came into the station in tears.
Reed said bus-depot personnel aren’t trained for something like this, but drivers may be.
“There’s no way to prepare for this, at least not to this degree,” he said.
After the driver left the scene, suspect remained on the hijacked the bus with one hostage.