September 26, 2024 • 26 mins
ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – An in-depth look at the L.A. Metro Bus hijacking “nightmare” with KFI Reporters Blake Troli AND Michael Monks - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:22):
KFI. It's later with Mo Kelly. We're live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. We have a huge show for you tonight.
So much going on. You've probably heard by now, the
pending charges and the impending announcement of those charges regarding
New York City Mayor Eric Adams. When we have more
information about that, obviously we will forward it to you.
(00:43):
I'm eagerly interested to see what has been uncovered and
what they will eventually charge him with. I find it
very curious, you know, the Biden DOJ in the weeks
before a major election, a presidential election, are going to
charge Democratic Bob an Indez says, hello, just seems like
(01:03):
it's weird. It's just strange timing. Why would the Biden
DOJ do that. Anyhow, we'll talk about that later if
we get more information or worse tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It's also wellness Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Claudine Cooper will join us with her thoughts about whether
couples who work out together stay together. And you might
have seen the video by now. It came down a
little late yesterday. We didn't have time to talk about it.
But Tom and Lee's wife, Britney Furlan, well, she rescued
her dog from a coyote attack. There was video of that,
(01:35):
and you know, I have a lot to say about
these gosh darn coyotes everywhere between them and bees.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Kill them all, kill them all, kill them dead. We
got the viral load with Tiffany Hobbs tonight. She'd joined
us in the studio.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
And you know you've taken method acting way too far
when you're playing a crackhead and you actually go to
a cracked in and experiment with crack I have a
completely different view of halle Berry now. That is to tease,
and we'll tell you about it before the show is over,
(02:13):
but of course I have to start with this. In
the next segment, we'll be joined by Blake Trolley, kfi's
own Blake Trolley, and he'll give us his information the
late us on that metro bus hijacking, and then Michael
Monks will join us at the bottom of the hour
and tell us what he gleaned and what he heard
and what he learned at the press conference earlier today
(02:34):
where you had a supervisor Han and also Mayor Bass
speaking and others. We can find out if we can
get some sense out of all this nonsense which has
been happening on Metro. And I want to be clear,
I have long said that Metro needs to have its
own police force. But I would never try to tell
you that that is the solution, that if you were
(02:58):
to just put an officer on every bus and every
train in every platform, these problems would disappear. No, no, no, no,
I would never say that, but I would think that's
the best solution which is available to us, which would
give us the best chance of protecting people. And here's
the uncomfortable truth about crime in our city or around
(03:21):
the country. We live in a free society, which is
an understood social contract. It's a contract that you, with
that freedom, are going to use it responsibly, that you
are not going to engage in crime. The understanding is
that you and fifty of your friends are not going
to ride up on your bikes and then try to
(03:43):
ransack a seven to eleven because you know that if
the fifty of you run into that store that there
probably won't be anyone to stop you. It's a social contract,
it's an understanding, it's an implicit agreement that this thin
v near of civility and lawful behavior can easily be
(04:05):
torn away if enough people decide to not abide by
that contract. Now, statistically, we can make the argument, and
I've said overall violent crime is down, but I also
said that if you look between the numbers and you
use the eyeball test, the type of crime has changed.
(04:25):
We can say that, hey, bus hijackings were not a
thing two or three years ago. We can say that
the type of crime of smashing grabs that we've seen
was not a thing two or three years ago. Statistically,
how that plays out, I don't know, but I think
all of us can acknowledge that this what we're experiencing
(04:48):
is something different.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I don't know what the catalyst is. I don't presume
to have all the answers.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I just know that, regardless of the numbers, the number
of people who no longer or who are no longer
abiding by the social contract of lawful behavior has increased.
And maybe they're not doing that type of crime that
they used to do. They're doing this type of crime.
(05:17):
And maybe this type of crime is not happening as
often as that type of crime, going back to the numbers,
but this type of crime is markedly different, and that's
what we're going to be talking about when we talk
to Blake Trolley about this metro hijacking.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And there's one other thing.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Remember how I would talk about how safety personal safety
begins with personal decisions. I say that I don't go
to gas stations at night, I do not go to
ATMs at night. I feel that I am putting myself
in danger or making myself more susceptible to becoming a victim.
But when I think about this metrobus hijacking, what we're
(05:58):
getting ready to get into. If you're riding the bus
at twelve thirty five am in the morning, there's a likelihood,
a likelihood that you're not doing so by choice. Maybe
you're working a late shift. Maybe you don't have a car,
maybe you don't have the money for an uber, maybe
you don't have any other type of transportation.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
There is a likelihood, a good.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Chance, that you are on that bus because that's your
only form of transportation. And being on that bus at
twelve forty five am on a Wednesday morning, through no
fault of your own, put you in greater danger, made
you more susceptible to becoming a victim of violence. Given
what we are experiencing here in Southern California, Visa VI,
(06:42):
the La Metro.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
So I don't have any jokes tonight. I don't have
anything witty to say.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I don't have any jokes about Keanu Reeves and speed.
I'm not trying to make any comparisons. I just know
that we're at a point where enough of the talk,
enough about being outraised or or being surprised at oh
my gosh, can't continue in our city. This can't continue
on our metro. We need to just go ahead and
solve the problem, or make sure that we're doing everything
that we can with the tools which are available to
(07:08):
us to address the problem. Because other than that, I
don't feel like hearing it. It's Later with mo Kelly.
Blake Trolley joins us.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Next.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
It's Later with mo Kelly and now Blake Trolley as
we're both live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. By now,
you should know that one person was fatally shot when
a metro bus was hijacked with passengers on board and
then pursued by police from South LA to Downtown LA
early this morning, and Blake trolly, you have been all
over this story.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
First, let me say good evening.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
But do we know anymore now about what happened and
why it happened.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Well, one of the things that we're learning is exactly
how police were actually alerted to this. In just the
last few minutes, mo I was reached out to by
the union that represents bus drivers saying that this driver
actually activated his emergency alarm system and that is what
alerted this large law enforcement presence that chased this bus.
Video and images have been posted of this bush. When
(08:13):
this activation was set off, the bus actually the screen,
the screen that you know sits above the windshield if
you will, of a bus was flashing nine one one
or call nine one one, please call police, you know,
alerting that there was an emergency. So we now know,
you know a little bit more on how police were
(08:33):
actually alerted to this bus. But we're trying to figure
out is exactly how this situation escalated. What we do
know is that down in South La on Figaro, a
guy did get on a bus. He was armed with
a gun. We're told that he would not let the
driver leave and that he had the driver continue driving
from South La at one point he was down by
the one oh five all the way back to downtown.
(08:56):
What's unclear is where on this journey did this guy
fire and kill one of the passengers that was on
this bus. Keep in mind that part of the timeline
that we're trying to figure out is did this shooting
happen and then the bus was hijacked? Did the shooting
happen as the bus was hijacked? And one of the
(09:16):
key details that may give us some hints as to
what happened here is that we're told there were several
people actually on the bus, and LAPD had confirmed with
us this morning that as the bus was heading through
South La, several people were actually seen getting off the bus.
And keep in mind this pursuit, it pushes from South
LA back to about skid Row, of all places, and
(09:38):
that's where spike strips are finally effective on this bus.
LAPD Deputy Chief Graham told us SWAT teams they were
ready to go. They knew that this could end up
being a very serious situation.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
They had made the determination to go in release the
pressure on the bus, allow the doors to open, make
entry to the bus, and do what they call a
dynamic entry, which is you know, everybody all in it
once instead of parceling it all out because of there
was a man with a gun there and potential access
to other victims, so that was a rescue operation.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
So they deployed on the bus.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
They used distraction techniques, made their way onto the bus.
My understanding is that the suspect immediately surrendered as soon
as SWAT assets entered the bus, so there was no altercation.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
When he says those distraction techniques, we were told by
some reporters that were on seeing that that was flashbangs
and the light that were used to distract that hijacker
and take him into custody. There was one other person
on board that those SWAP members were able to save.
That person was actually hiding in the back of the bus.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Do we know going back to the panic button which
displays called nine one one on the bus, Marque, is
that new?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I've never heard about that before.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yeah, I haven't heard this using keep in mind, this
is not the first time that we've heard of a
bus being hijacked in LA This year alone. There was
the hijacking in downtown LA where the bus had craft
into the RITZ. I do not remember hearing any similar
reports at that time, and I had responded to that story.
I know that bus safety this is something that Metro
has been focusing on mo. If you'll remember back in
(11:13):
the spring, Metro had actually ordered new barriers to be
put around these bus operators. This was because of a
concerting rise and assaults on operators. I was told that
this bus actually had one of those new barriers, and
to my knowledge, these are bulletproof barriers. So I'm really
trying to figure out the dynamics at play that had
a guy with a gun ordering a driver to drive
(11:35):
despite that driver being behind a barrier. Metro did release
in Metro's latest crime stat release, they did show an
uptick in operator assaults from May to July.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
July is the latest.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Numbers that we have. There were eleven operator assaults in
May twenty three in July, and in this same report
they said that some of these tactics that people are
using to assault these operators are punching, slapping, spitting, brandishing
a gun and using objects. So you know, this attack
on operators is obviously something that Metro is grappling with
(12:13):
as they see these rising numbers. The chair of Metro
janisn She put out a statement say we need to
prevent find solutions to prevent similar attacks, and she seems
to be now taking aim at ways the system can
prevent people from bringing weapons onto the system.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Blake, I don't expect you to know the answers to
these questions, but I feel I need to ask them
for the benefit of our audience. You said that one
person obviously was shot and killed. Unfortunately one person was
able to hide. Do we know how many people were
on the bus at any given time during this hijacking?
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Passengers wise, No, and that's something I'm trying to figure out.
We know was more than just those people. There were
four people in total involved by the time that SWAT
officers had made it on. There was the alleged hijacker,
there was the driver, there was the person who was
shot and killed, and there was the person that was
hiding on the bus.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
So the latest official number we have is four.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
But as we heard from officials this morning on the ground,
was that there were other passengers in the beginning of this,
especially as police initially began to respond to this, that
we're seen getting off the bus, and when you think
about the way that this chase started. We're trying to
get a timeline of when these people hopped off the bus.
It could have very well been this kind of buffer
(13:30):
moment where police were trying to communicate with the hijacker
using PA systems, and at one point the bus just
kind of slowly takes off and that's where we see
this slow pursuit. Video of this pursuit was posted online.
Street People of LA's got a great clip. You see
this bus just kind of slow rolling from South LA
(13:50):
into downtown and a just parade of police cars just
kind of slowly following behind.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
You make mention of the previous bus hijacking, And I
know that you may not have specifically interviewed metro bus operators,
but I wonder if there will be a willingness for
metro bus operators to speak out going forward and give
their thoughts about safety or lack thereof while operating these buses.
Because to your point, the assaults have increased by Metro's
(14:19):
own internal data, I would have to assume that they
are more concerned than ever before about their own safety.
Have you had any discussions with metro bus operators up
until this point.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, so I spoke with the union about this, And
keep in mind that when that original hijacking came out
in the spring, the union had put out a statement
essentially calling on Metro for more action. The statement that
I got from the union today, and a lot of
what they had told me, was that this really reiterates
the need for some of the action that they've called
(14:49):
on Metro to take. I didn't see any specific new
demands in with the union, at least at my first
glance at this email, But here we go. I'm going
to go through it right now again. This same email
is where we find out that the driver used that
emergency system. We did not know that as of this
earlier this morning through police. It says this grave incident
(15:12):
emphasizes the continuing safety concerns that our members have raised
and that we your General Committee, have vehemently expressed to
Metro management. The protection of our members remains the very
top priority of your union and this regard. We have
been the thriving force in Metro's decision to install protective
driver barriers aboard the buses. It should be noted that
Metro promised us they would complete installation of bears by
(15:33):
the end of the year. In addition, we recently strongly
supported a Metro board motion to entirely revamp Metro's police
protection to better safeguard our members. This process has begun,
so again, when you look at this statement, it doesn't
call in any new action. What I'm going to be
curious to CIMO is, Okay, we've kind of heard this
(15:54):
initial statement from the union. Are the drivers going to
reach around their union and maybe hold one of their
own events where they'll speak to the media and try
to get some of this out as we hear not
only about this report, not only about the last II jacking,
but then you know the numbers that we provided there
through that Metro report.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Thank you Blake for staying up on this story. It's
later with Mo Kelly Cafi AM six forty. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. But we're not done with
this story. On the other side, I'll be joined by
Michael Monks, who is at the Karen Bass presser earlier
today on this incident, and Michael Monks will give us
his assessment of what information was divulged and whether we
have a clear sense of whether Metro knows how to
(16:35):
handle this going forward.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
You're listening to later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And joining us right now from the iHeartRadio Studios downtown
Los Angeles is none other than kfi's own Michael Monks.
And you've been very busy following this Metro generally and
specifically the press conference earlier today.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Who was in attendance and who do we get to
hear from? Today?
Speaker 6 (17:00):
We got to hear from all the heavy hitters related
to city and county governance and the governance of Metro.
We had La Mayor Bass, we had County Supervisor Janis Hahn,
who was the chair of the Metro board. We had
an assistant police chief, and we also had the CEO
of Metro, Stephanie Wiggins. So we expected a pretty significant
(17:20):
statement or announcement about what transpired, the tragedy and crime
that occurred this morning. Didn't really get the sense that
that's what happened. Though.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You didn't get the sense that that's what happened.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
They didn't give a strong enough statement, or they didn't
give a statement that addressed the heart of the issues.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
It really wasn't much.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
New that was said. And you know, you and I
have talked about this. You've talked about it a lot
on your show, We've talked about it throughout the programming
in the news on KFI. That I mean, there have
been tragedies and there have been other crimes associated with
drivers and writers on this metro system, and there's been
a so called surge and law ence presence across the system.
(18:02):
And when you have something like this happen, it does
make folks question whether any of this has worked, whether
any of it was worth it, And so to expect
a stronger statement from these local leaders who govern this
transit system probably was appropriate, but again it was mostly
(18:22):
a rehash of the efforts that are ongoing, and even
bold enough to recite statistics that had already been reported
about indications that their surge is in fact working.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I have a question, and this is somewhat philosophical, somewhat rhetorical,
but hear me out. If they have a stronger statement,
who is the intended audience? Who are they asking for
help from? Who are they mad at as far as
not getting things done? If you have the mayor, you
have the CEO of Metro, you have the chair of
the Metro board, and they're saying and I would say,
(18:57):
in so many words paraphrase, we need to do more.
This is unacceptable. We can't have this happen on public transit.
And we all agree, But who are they telling that too?
Because they are the leaders who are responsible, in charge
and empowered to do something.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
I asked that very question I got called on in
the presser this afternoon at Union Station, even when as
far as what you just did, identifying them by their
titles and the role that they play in the governance
of Metro, and noting the fact that there is a
Metro board meeting tomorrow, and I asked, what will you
do tomorrow that's not currently on the agenda related to
(19:36):
the incident today and in an attempt to further prevent
similar incidents from occurring, And none of the elected officials
or the CEO of Metro took the question. Instead, they
brought up one of the security officials with Metro, who's
a good guy, always willing to talk and explain their
(19:57):
strategies and their results, and was a focus of my
interview last week about the statistics related to the surge,
but that ended up just being a recitation of the
statistics related to the surge, highlighting that there have been successes,
and there have been based on the data, but one
key point of that data MO is that the attack,
the number of attacks against bus operators has actually gone
(20:19):
up since that surge started. This surge where they're supposed
to be more law enforcement people present, more security officials present,
more ambassadors present, more bus drivers have been victims of
crimes while working than they were before that started.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Let me go back to the actual hijacking that took
place early this morning. We know that the bus in
question had the new protection, the bulletproof divider, which is
supposed to separate the bus driver from any would be assailant.
Do we know whether the bus driver was trying to
protect passengers by a going along with the hijackers demands
(20:59):
to keep the bus going forward.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Some of those questions were shouted out.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
We did not get a lot of specific details about
what transpired on that bus from the time that this
alleged hijacker got aboard in South LA and even during
the hour long slow speed chase that led to the
Arts District here in downtown LA. The police are holding
that still close to the vest. They did identify the
suspect as Lamont Campbell, a fifty one year old guy
(21:24):
from here in LA But beyond that, nothing about why
he did it, nothing about what might have precipitated the
actual shooting that took place. We don't want to lose
sight of the fact that this was another deadly tragedy
that took place on metro passenger shot and killed. We
don't know the circumstances of that. What we know about
that barrier, and I heard Blake talk about this too,
(21:46):
is that these are supposed to be in all the
buses by the end of the year. And today at
the press conference, the local officials noted that that barrier
is what kept that driver in control of the vehicle.
But as far as any dialogue that was taking place
on the bus, they haven't released that to us publicly yet.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Speaking of releasing information or evidence, has there been any
discussion about whether the video of what transpired would be
made available to the public and press at any later date.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
It's public property, So the answer is that, yes, that
should be accessible at some point. A lot of times
when these investigations are ongoing, it takes a little bit
longer to get those things, but you can bet the
our request out there already to obtain those things.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Let me be very cynical, sarcastic and a smartest for
a moment. So is it fair to say that if
someone is shot and killed tonight on a bus, there
will be another press conference in which we won't get
any specific information, nor will we get any clarity on
what will be done to prevent the next one.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
It's a fair question. And I think you know, if
I put on my analyst hat, as a as a journalist,
as a resident of Los Angeles, and as a customer
of Metro, I think what you're seeing are these agencies.
This agency, it's governed by representatives from other agencies, the city,
(23:08):
the county, other cities, and Metro itself. And these are
all organizations that have taken positions on a variety of
societal problems in our region, whether it be homelessness, drug addiction, housing,
insecurity and other criminal activity, mental health issues. And because
of that, when they come out and say, look, we've
(23:30):
got problems in this society that's impacting Metro, well, they
are also the ones charged with addressing those issues in
their other capacities as well. So it's a lot of
circular finger pointing that's polite. They can't come out and
say we're kind of not being successful in our efforts
on this initiative and that initiative, and it's hurting this initiative.
(23:54):
So the failures of addressing homelessness quickly enough, the failures
of addressing mental health crises fast enough, the failures of
addressing criminal active activity at large across the community is
certainly impacting Metro. And then the failures to address those
in any suitable way for the satisfaction of consumers and
just the general population that pays for this system that's
(24:17):
also not working. So they have a steady stream of
problems at every level of government, and then every level
of government is also charged with governing Metro.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
One more question before I let you go. Michael Monk,
thank you for staying up late. I know it's been
a very long day for you covering this. I was
encouraged by the fact that there was a panic button
system already in place which helped the driver of the bus,
the operator get a police involvement. Do we know what
was the lag time in between when that panic button
(24:49):
was pushed as we hear sirens in the background the
downtown bureaus, right, do we know the lag time been
between hitting that panic button when officers arrived on scene.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
That pan button gives an immediate notice to the police department.
And the other key thing that it did was it
changed the signage on the bus to say call nine
one one emergency, which I've never seen. Hopefully this is
something that continues to be a rarity. But people did
see it, and I do apologize for those sirens here
(25:20):
downtown that are pretty steady. People called, people called nine
to one one that late. People saw it, and some
of it may have been passengers that left the bus
before before it got real hairy on there, so that
that may have been part of it. We don't know specifically,
but there were a lot. We were told today that
a lot of nine one one calls came in because
(25:40):
of people on the street who saw that sign on
the bus.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Oh, thank you for clarifying so it does. The paddic
button does contact police immediately, in addition asking other people, okyes,
Michael Monks, thank you for going to that presser and
getting as much information as you could get from them.
We know that we can't get all the answers, but
hopeful league we can get some of the answers some
of the time, and unfortunately, there will be another metro
(26:04):
incident in the future, probably near future, so we'll be
talking again soon.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
We'll continue to Prime Man.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It's Later with Mo Kelly k IF. I am six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
If you find yourself agreeing with everything we.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Say, we're doing it wrong.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
K F I'm m KOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange County,
Live everywhere on the Heart Radio
KFI. It's later with Mo Kelly. We're live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. We have a huge show for you tonight.
So much going on. You've probably heard by now, the
pending charges and the impending announcement of those charges regarding
New York City Mayor Eric Adams. When we have more
information about that, obviously we will forward it to you.
(00:43):
I'm eagerly interested to see what has been uncovered and
what they will eventually charge him with. I find it
very curious, you know, the Biden DOJ in the weeks
before a major election, a presidential election, are going to
charge Democratic Bob an Indez says, hello, just seems like
(01:03):
it's weird. It's just strange timing. Why would the Biden
DOJ do that. Anyhow, we'll talk about that later if
we get more information or worse tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It's also wellness Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Claudine Cooper will join us with her thoughts about whether
couples who work out together stay together. And you might
have seen the video by now. It came down a
little late yesterday. We didn't have time to talk about it.
But Tom and Lee's wife, Britney Furlan, well, she rescued
her dog from a coyote attack. There was video of that,
(01:35):
and you know, I have a lot to say about
these gosh darn coyotes everywhere between them and bees.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Kill them all, kill them all, kill them dead. We
got the viral load with Tiffany Hobbs tonight. She'd joined
us in the studio.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
And you know you've taken method acting way too far
when you're playing a crackhead and you actually go to
a cracked in and experiment with crack I have a
completely different view of halle Berry now. That is to tease,
and we'll tell you about it before the show is over,
(02:13):
but of course I have to start with this. In
the next segment, we'll be joined by Blake Trolley, kfi's
own Blake Trolley, and he'll give us his information the
late us on that metro bus hijacking, and then Michael
Monks will join us at the bottom of the hour
and tell us what he gleaned and what he heard
and what he learned at the press conference earlier today
(02:34):
where you had a supervisor Han and also Mayor Bass
speaking and others. We can find out if we can
get some sense out of all this nonsense which has
been happening on Metro. And I want to be clear,
I have long said that Metro needs to have its
own police force. But I would never try to tell
you that that is the solution, that if you were
(02:58):
to just put an officer on every bus and every
train in every platform, these problems would disappear. No, no, no, no,
I would never say that, but I would think that's
the best solution which is available to us, which would
give us the best chance of protecting people. And here's
the uncomfortable truth about crime in our city or around
(03:21):
the country. We live in a free society, which is
an understood social contract. It's a contract that you, with
that freedom, are going to use it responsibly, that you
are not going to engage in crime. The understanding is
that you and fifty of your friends are not going
to ride up on your bikes and then try to
(03:43):
ransack a seven to eleven because you know that if
the fifty of you run into that store that there
probably won't be anyone to stop you. It's a social contract,
it's an understanding, it's an implicit agreement that this thin
v near of civility and lawful behavior can easily be
(04:05):
torn away if enough people decide to not abide by
that contract. Now, statistically, we can make the argument, and
I've said overall violent crime is down, but I also
said that if you look between the numbers and you
use the eyeball test, the type of crime has changed.
(04:25):
We can say that, hey, bus hijackings were not a
thing two or three years ago. We can say that
the type of crime of smashing grabs that we've seen
was not a thing two or three years ago. Statistically,
how that plays out, I don't know, but I think
all of us can acknowledge that this what we're experiencing
(04:48):
is something different.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I don't know what the catalyst is. I don't presume
to have all the answers.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I just know that, regardless of the numbers, the number
of people who no longer or who are no longer
abiding by the social contract of lawful behavior has increased.
And maybe they're not doing that type of crime that
they used to do. They're doing this type of crime.
(05:17):
And maybe this type of crime is not happening as
often as that type of crime, going back to the numbers,
but this type of crime is markedly different, and that's
what we're going to be talking about when we talk
to Blake Trolley about this metro hijacking.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And there's one other thing.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Remember how I would talk about how safety personal safety
begins with personal decisions. I say that I don't go
to gas stations at night, I do not go to
ATMs at night. I feel that I am putting myself
in danger or making myself more susceptible to becoming a victim.
But when I think about this metrobus hijacking, what we're
(05:58):
getting ready to get into. If you're riding the bus
at twelve thirty five am in the morning, there's a likelihood,
a likelihood that you're not doing so by choice. Maybe
you're working a late shift. Maybe you don't have a car,
maybe you don't have the money for an uber, maybe
you don't have any other type of transportation.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
There is a likelihood, a good.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Chance, that you are on that bus because that's your
only form of transportation. And being on that bus at
twelve forty five am on a Wednesday morning, through no
fault of your own, put you in greater danger, made
you more susceptible to becoming a victim of violence. Given
what we are experiencing here in Southern California, Visa VI,
(06:42):
the La Metro.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
So I don't have any jokes tonight. I don't have
anything witty to say.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I don't have any jokes about Keanu Reeves and speed.
I'm not trying to make any comparisons. I just know
that we're at a point where enough of the talk,
enough about being outraised or or being surprised at oh
my gosh, can't continue in our city. This can't continue
on our metro. We need to just go ahead and
solve the problem, or make sure that we're doing everything
that we can with the tools which are available to
(07:08):
us to address the problem. Because other than that, I
don't feel like hearing it. It's Later with mo Kelly.
Blake Trolley joins us.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Next.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
It's Later with mo Kelly and now Blake Trolley as
we're both live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. By now,
you should know that one person was fatally shot when
a metro bus was hijacked with passengers on board and
then pursued by police from South LA to Downtown LA
early this morning, and Blake trolly, you have been all
over this story.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
First, let me say good evening.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
But do we know anymore now about what happened and
why it happened.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Well, one of the things that we're learning is exactly
how police were actually alerted to this. In just the
last few minutes, mo I was reached out to by
the union that represents bus drivers saying that this driver
actually activated his emergency alarm system and that is what
alerted this large law enforcement presence that chased this bus.
Video and images have been posted of this bush. When
(08:13):
this activation was set off, the bus actually the screen,
the screen that you know sits above the windshield if
you will, of a bus was flashing nine one one
or call nine one one, please call police, you know,
alerting that there was an emergency. So we now know,
you know a little bit more on how police were
(08:33):
actually alerted to this bus. But we're trying to figure
out is exactly how this situation escalated. What we do
know is that down in South La on Figaro, a
guy did get on a bus. He was armed with
a gun. We're told that he would not let the
driver leave and that he had the driver continue driving
from South La at one point he was down by
the one oh five all the way back to downtown.
(08:56):
What's unclear is where on this journey did this guy
fire and kill one of the passengers that was on
this bus. Keep in mind that part of the timeline
that we're trying to figure out is did this shooting
happen and then the bus was hijacked? Did the shooting
happen as the bus was hijacked? And one of the
(09:16):
key details that may give us some hints as to
what happened here is that we're told there were several
people actually on the bus, and LAPD had confirmed with
us this morning that as the bus was heading through
South La, several people were actually seen getting off the bus.
And keep in mind this pursuit, it pushes from South
LA back to about skid Row, of all places, and
(09:38):
that's where spike strips are finally effective on this bus.
LAPD Deputy Chief Graham told us SWAT teams they were
ready to go. They knew that this could end up
being a very serious situation.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
They had made the determination to go in release the
pressure on the bus, allow the doors to open, make
entry to the bus, and do what they call a
dynamic entry, which is you know, everybody all in it
once instead of parceling it all out because of there
was a man with a gun there and potential access
to other victims, so that was a rescue operation.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
So they deployed on the bus.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
They used distraction techniques, made their way onto the bus.
My understanding is that the suspect immediately surrendered as soon
as SWAT assets entered the bus, so there was no altercation.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
When he says those distraction techniques, we were told by
some reporters that were on seeing that that was flashbangs
and the light that were used to distract that hijacker
and take him into custody. There was one other person
on board that those SWAP members were able to save.
That person was actually hiding in the back of the bus.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Do we know going back to the panic button which
displays called nine one one on the bus, Marque, is
that new?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I've never heard about that before.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yeah, I haven't heard this using keep in mind, this
is not the first time that we've heard of a
bus being hijacked in LA This year alone. There was
the hijacking in downtown LA where the bus had craft
into the RITZ. I do not remember hearing any similar
reports at that time, and I had responded to that story.
I know that bus safety this is something that Metro
has been focusing on mo. If you'll remember back in
(11:13):
the spring, Metro had actually ordered new barriers to be
put around these bus operators. This was because of a
concerting rise and assaults on operators. I was told that
this bus actually had one of those new barriers, and
to my knowledge, these are bulletproof barriers. So I'm really
trying to figure out the dynamics at play that had
a guy with a gun ordering a driver to drive
(11:35):
despite that driver being behind a barrier. Metro did release
in Metro's latest crime stat release, they did show an
uptick in operator assaults from May to July.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
July is the latest.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Numbers that we have. There were eleven operator assaults in
May twenty three in July, and in this same report
they said that some of these tactics that people are
using to assault these operators are punching, slapping, spitting, brandishing
a gun and using objects. So you know, this attack
on operators is obviously something that Metro is grappling with
(12:13):
as they see these rising numbers. The chair of Metro
janisn She put out a statement say we need to
prevent find solutions to prevent similar attacks, and she seems
to be now taking aim at ways the system can
prevent people from bringing weapons onto the system.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Blake, I don't expect you to know the answers to
these questions, but I feel I need to ask them
for the benefit of our audience. You said that one
person obviously was shot and killed. Unfortunately one person was
able to hide. Do we know how many people were
on the bus at any given time during this hijacking?
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Passengers wise, No, and that's something I'm trying to figure out.
We know was more than just those people. There were
four people in total involved by the time that SWAT
officers had made it on. There was the alleged hijacker,
there was the driver, there was the person who was
shot and killed, and there was the person that was
hiding on the bus.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
So the latest official number we have is four.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
But as we heard from officials this morning on the ground,
was that there were other passengers in the beginning of this,
especially as police initially began to respond to this, that
we're seen getting off the bus, and when you think
about the way that this chase started. We're trying to
get a timeline of when these people hopped off the bus.
It could have very well been this kind of buffer
(13:30):
moment where police were trying to communicate with the hijacker
using PA systems, and at one point the bus just
kind of slowly takes off and that's where we see
this slow pursuit. Video of this pursuit was posted online.
Street People of LA's got a great clip. You see
this bus just kind of slow rolling from South LA
(13:50):
into downtown and a just parade of police cars just
kind of slowly following behind.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
You make mention of the previous bus hijacking, And I
know that you may not have specifically interviewed metro bus operators,
but I wonder if there will be a willingness for
metro bus operators to speak out going forward and give
their thoughts about safety or lack thereof while operating these buses.
Because to your point, the assaults have increased by Metro's
(14:19):
own internal data, I would have to assume that they
are more concerned than ever before about their own safety.
Have you had any discussions with metro bus operators up
until this point.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, so I spoke with the union about this, And
keep in mind that when that original hijacking came out
in the spring, the union had put out a statement
essentially calling on Metro for more action. The statement that
I got from the union today, and a lot of
what they had told me, was that this really reiterates
the need for some of the action that they've called
(14:49):
on Metro to take. I didn't see any specific new
demands in with the union, at least at my first
glance at this email, But here we go. I'm going
to go through it right now again. This same email
is where we find out that the driver used that
emergency system. We did not know that as of this
earlier this morning through police. It says this grave incident
(15:12):
emphasizes the continuing safety concerns that our members have raised
and that we your General Committee, have vehemently expressed to
Metro management. The protection of our members remains the very
top priority of your union and this regard. We have
been the thriving force in Metro's decision to install protective
driver barriers aboard the buses. It should be noted that
Metro promised us they would complete installation of bears by
(15:33):
the end of the year. In addition, we recently strongly
supported a Metro board motion to entirely revamp Metro's police
protection to better safeguard our members. This process has begun,
so again, when you look at this statement, it doesn't
call in any new action. What I'm going to be
curious to CIMO is, Okay, we've kind of heard this
(15:54):
initial statement from the union. Are the drivers going to
reach around their union and maybe hold one of their
own events where they'll speak to the media and try
to get some of this out as we hear not
only about this report, not only about the last II jacking,
but then you know the numbers that we provided there
through that Metro report.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Thank you Blake for staying up on this story. It's
later with Mo Kelly Cafi AM six forty. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. But we're not done with
this story. On the other side, I'll be joined by
Michael Monks, who is at the Karen Bass presser earlier
today on this incident, and Michael Monks will give us
his assessment of what information was divulged and whether we
have a clear sense of whether Metro knows how to
(16:35):
handle this going forward.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
You're listening to later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And joining us right now from the iHeartRadio Studios downtown
Los Angeles is none other than kfi's own Michael Monks.
And you've been very busy following this Metro generally and
specifically the press conference earlier today.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Who was in attendance and who do we get to
hear from? Today?
Speaker 6 (17:00):
We got to hear from all the heavy hitters related
to city and county governance and the governance of Metro.
We had La Mayor Bass, we had County Supervisor Janis Hahn,
who was the chair of the Metro board. We had
an assistant police chief, and we also had the CEO
of Metro, Stephanie Wiggins. So we expected a pretty significant
(17:20):
statement or announcement about what transpired, the tragedy and crime
that occurred this morning. Didn't really get the sense that
that's what happened. Though.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You didn't get the sense that that's what happened.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
They didn't give a strong enough statement, or they didn't
give a statement that addressed the heart of the issues.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
It really wasn't much.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
New that was said. And you know, you and I
have talked about this. You've talked about it a lot
on your show, We've talked about it throughout the programming
in the news on KFI. That I mean, there have
been tragedies and there have been other crimes associated with
drivers and writers on this metro system, and there's been
a so called surge and law ence presence across the system.
(18:02):
And when you have something like this happen, it does
make folks question whether any of this has worked, whether
any of it was worth it, And so to expect
a stronger statement from these local leaders who govern this
transit system probably was appropriate, but again it was mostly
(18:22):
a rehash of the efforts that are ongoing, and even
bold enough to recite statistics that had already been reported
about indications that their surge is in fact working.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I have a question, and this is somewhat philosophical, somewhat rhetorical,
but hear me out. If they have a stronger statement,
who is the intended audience? Who are they asking for
help from? Who are they mad at as far as
not getting things done? If you have the mayor, you
have the CEO of Metro, you have the chair of
the Metro board, and they're saying and I would say,
(18:57):
in so many words paraphrase, we need to do more.
This is unacceptable. We can't have this happen on public transit.
And we all agree, But who are they telling that too?
Because they are the leaders who are responsible, in charge
and empowered to do something.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
I asked that very question I got called on in
the presser this afternoon at Union Station, even when as
far as what you just did, identifying them by their
titles and the role that they play in the governance
of Metro, and noting the fact that there is a
Metro board meeting tomorrow, and I asked, what will you
do tomorrow that's not currently on the agenda related to
(19:36):
the incident today and in an attempt to further prevent
similar incidents from occurring, And none of the elected officials
or the CEO of Metro took the question. Instead, they
brought up one of the security officials with Metro, who's
a good guy, always willing to talk and explain their
(19:57):
strategies and their results, and was a focus of my
interview last week about the statistics related to the surge,
but that ended up just being a recitation of the
statistics related to the surge, highlighting that there have been successes,
and there have been based on the data, but one
key point of that data MO is that the attack,
the number of attacks against bus operators has actually gone
(20:19):
up since that surge started. This surge where they're supposed
to be more law enforcement people present, more security officials present,
more ambassadors present, more bus drivers have been victims of
crimes while working than they were before that started.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Let me go back to the actual hijacking that took
place early this morning. We know that the bus in
question had the new protection, the bulletproof divider, which is
supposed to separate the bus driver from any would be assailant.
Do we know whether the bus driver was trying to
protect passengers by a going along with the hijackers demands
(20:59):
to keep the bus going forward.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Some of those questions were shouted out.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
We did not get a lot of specific details about
what transpired on that bus from the time that this
alleged hijacker got aboard in South LA and even during
the hour long slow speed chase that led to the
Arts District here in downtown LA. The police are holding
that still close to the vest. They did identify the
suspect as Lamont Campbell, a fifty one year old guy
(21:24):
from here in LA But beyond that, nothing about why
he did it, nothing about what might have precipitated the
actual shooting that took place. We don't want to lose
sight of the fact that this was another deadly tragedy
that took place on metro passenger shot and killed. We
don't know the circumstances of that. What we know about
that barrier, and I heard Blake talk about this too,
(21:46):
is that these are supposed to be in all the
buses by the end of the year. And today at
the press conference, the local officials noted that that barrier
is what kept that driver in control of the vehicle.
But as far as any dialogue that was taking place
on the bus, they haven't released that to us publicly yet.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Speaking of releasing information or evidence, has there been any
discussion about whether the video of what transpired would be
made available to the public and press at any later date.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
It's public property, So the answer is that, yes, that
should be accessible at some point. A lot of times
when these investigations are ongoing, it takes a little bit
longer to get those things, but you can bet the
our request out there already to obtain those things.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Let me be very cynical, sarcastic and a smartest for
a moment. So is it fair to say that if
someone is shot and killed tonight on a bus, there
will be another press conference in which we won't get
any specific information, nor will we get any clarity on
what will be done to prevent the next one.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
It's a fair question. And I think you know, if
I put on my analyst hat, as a as a journalist,
as a resident of Los Angeles, and as a customer
of Metro, I think what you're seeing are these agencies.
This agency, it's governed by representatives from other agencies, the city,
(23:08):
the county, other cities, and Metro itself. And these are
all organizations that have taken positions on a variety of
societal problems in our region, whether it be homelessness, drug addiction, housing,
insecurity and other criminal activity, mental health issues. And because
of that, when they come out and say, look, we've
(23:30):
got problems in this society that's impacting Metro, well, they
are also the ones charged with addressing those issues in
their other capacities as well. So it's a lot of
circular finger pointing that's polite. They can't come out and
say we're kind of not being successful in our efforts
on this initiative and that initiative, and it's hurting this initiative.
(23:54):
So the failures of addressing homelessness quickly enough, the failures
of addressing mental health crises fast enough, the failures of
addressing criminal active activity at large across the community is
certainly impacting Metro. And then the failures to address those
in any suitable way for the satisfaction of consumers and
just the general population that pays for this system that's
(24:17):
also not working. So they have a steady stream of
problems at every level of government, and then every level
of government is also charged with governing Metro.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
One more question before I let you go. Michael Monk,
thank you for staying up late. I know it's been
a very long day for you covering this. I was
encouraged by the fact that there was a panic button
system already in place which helped the driver of the bus,
the operator get a police involvement. Do we know what
was the lag time in between when that panic button
(24:49):
was pushed as we hear sirens in the background the
downtown bureaus, right, do we know the lag time been
between hitting that panic button when officers arrived on scene.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
That pan button gives an immediate notice to the police department.
And the other key thing that it did was it
changed the signage on the bus to say call nine
one one emergency, which I've never seen. Hopefully this is
something that continues to be a rarity. But people did
see it, and I do apologize for those sirens here
(25:20):
downtown that are pretty steady. People called, people called nine
to one one that late. People saw it, and some
of it may have been passengers that left the bus
before before it got real hairy on there, so that
that may have been part of it. We don't know specifically,
but there were a lot. We were told today that
a lot of nine one one calls came in because
(25:40):
of people on the street who saw that sign on
the bus.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Oh, thank you for clarifying so it does. The paddic
button does contact police immediately, in addition asking other people, okyes,
Michael Monks, thank you for going to that presser and
getting as much information as you could get from them.
We know that we can't get all the answers, but
hopeful league we can get some of the answers some
of the time, and unfortunately, there will be another metro
(26:04):
incident in the future, probably near future, so we'll be
talking again soon.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
We'll continue to Prime Man.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It's Later with Mo Kelly k IF. I am six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
If you find yourself agreeing with everything we.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Say, we're doing it wrong.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
K F I'm m KOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange County,
Live everywhere on the Heart Radio
Later, with Mo'Kelly News
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