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Shots fired at Utah Transit Authority bus shatter two windows after ‘disruptive’ teens are asked to get off

Seven people aboard a Utah Transit Authority bus in Salt Lake City were shaken — but not hurt — when shots fired toward the bus shattered two windows Tuesday night.

The shooting occurred just after 9 p.m., near 1950 W. North Temple and hit a bus covering Route 217, according to UTA spokesman Carl Arky.

Based on interviews with witnesses and surveillance footage from a camera at the front of the bus, Arky said, a group of four to five young males, who appear to be about 15 to 18 years old, boarded the bus at a stop shortly before the shooting.

”Within 30 seconds,” another passenger heard them make threats toward the bus driver and reported the threats to the driver, Arky said.

The driver then pulled the bus over and “in no uncertain terms” asked the group to get off the bus, according to Arky. Though there was a verbal confrontation involving “some back and forth” between the group and the driver, the driver stayed in his seat and the group eventually exited.

But moments later, police believe, one of the people who’d exited pulled out either a pellet gun or a pistol and fired it at the bus, shattering two windows. In the surveillance video, Arky said, the windows shatter “right after” the group exits the bus.

The person who fired then fled, Arky said.

Six passengers still aboard the bus and the driver were not hurt by the shots, Arky said, and other buses were able to pick up people waiting along the route.

As of late Wednesday morning, no one had been arrested in connection with the incident, but police were following up with “strong leads,” Arky said.

UTA and Salt Lake City police were investigating the shooting.

The video of the shooting and events leading up to it was under review by police Wednesday and likely needs to be redacted to protect the privacy of people on the bus at the time, Arky said. It was not expected that the video would be released Wednesday.