Charges filed in Metro Transit bus shooting

A 19-year old Minneapolis man has been charged with three felonies in a Metro Transit bus shooting that wounded two people earlier this week, authorities said.

Marcus Anthony Bryant faces two counts of second-degree assault and one count of shooting at a bus for allegedly firing a gun while traveling on a Route 5 bus Monday night.

Bryant will appear in Hennepin County Court at 1:30 p.m. today.

According to the complaint: Witnesses told police Bryant got on the bus at 8th Street and Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis and became involved in a verbal altercation with an older man.

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Bryant then went to the rear of the bus and exchanged words with two other men. He started asking them "do you know me" and "you will know me," witnesses said.

This went on for a short period until the bus stopped at 14th Street and Chicago Avenue. Bryant started exiting the rear door of the bus, but before leaving, he turned around and said "why don't you see if I know you."

That's when he pulled out a .44 caliber revolver and fired one shot back into the bus. One passenger was struck in the arm and another was grazed by the bullet before it broke a window, authorities said. Both were non-life threatening wounds.

Police in the area heard the gunshot and chased Bryant down 14th Avenue, before arresting him. They found the revolver on his waistband.

In interviews with police, Bryant admitted he exchanged words with the two men on the bus. He also admitted that when he went to exit the bus, he turned around, shot at the two men and then ran.

Bryant also told police he does not have a permit to carry a weapon. He said he purchased the magnum revolver for $100.

Bryant is in custody at the Hennepin County jail and faces $200,000 bail.

Gun violence on Metro Transit buses is rare, although another passenger was shot and wounded in a confrontation in north Minneapolis in 2007. A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed on a Route 74 bus in downtown St. Paul about a month later.