NORCROSS, Ga.—A man has been charged with aggravated assault after pointing a handgun at a Greyhound bus driver outside Atlanta and sparking a standoff with a SWAT team that shut down Interstate 85 for hours earlier this week, police said Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Conyers, Georgia man had gotten into an argument Tuesday with a passenger on the bus bound from Atlanta to New York. He then pointed a gun at the driver after he had pulled over because of the commotion, Gwinnett County police said. A police SWAT team then surrounded the bus.
Interstate 85 northeast of Atlanta was closed in both directions for more than four hours on Tuesday as officers negotiated with the man and finally apprehended him.
Police say the suspect didn’t point the gun at any passengers and they were able to exit the bus safely.
Police received the call about a suspicious person with a handgun acting erratically around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, police spokesperson Ryan Winderweedle said on Tuesday.
“We do not know what the suspect is wanting or asking for,” he said. “The call came in that he was suspicious and acting erratic and then produced a handgun.”
By Tuesday afternoon, the man was arrested, Gwinnett County police spokesperson J.R. Richter said. “There have been no injuries reported,” Richter said in an email.
