A 911 call revealed the suspected gunman shot a Minnesota bus driver stopped in traffic during a snow storm on Feb. 5 because he feared getting run over.
Lilly, 31, reported to police in a phone call Feb. 5 that he got in an accident with the 78-year-old bus driver, claimed he almost got run over by the bus when trying to get the driver’s information and fired shots out of self-defense, according to the Star Tribune Thursday.
“I had an accident with a bus driver,” Lilly said, according to transcript displayed by Fox 9. “I got out, I tried to get his information. He tried to drive past me, nearly ran me over and then a self-defense incident occurred because he tried to run me over. So shots have been fired.”
Lilly asked officers to send an ambulance and police. The 31-year-old did not know where the driver was hit and thought there were no passengers on the bus. Lilly told the dispatcher he was “a little shaken since I was nearly run over by a bus.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation released a video showing the encounter between Lilly and the bus driver on Feb. 6.
A criminal complaint states the bus driver was trying to “merge onto the interstate” and “was unaware of any collision.” Officials found some paint from the bus on Lilly’s car, however.
“We do not believe there is a self-defense claim based on the evidence we have received so far,” Chief Deputy County Attorney Dave Brown said, according to the Star Tribune.
The bus driver was shot in the arm and scraped his head, the Star Tribune reported.
An eight-year-old girl, unharmed, was in the back of the bus during the incident.
“The actions of Mr. Lilly were outrageous and it was sheer luck that neither the bus driver nor the little girl were killed,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement Feb. 7. “Minneapolis police are continuing their investigation and if we can add aggravating circumstances for a longer sentence, should we prove him guilty, we will do so.”
Lilly was charged with second-degree assault and attempted second-degree murder.
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