KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
A Kansas City bus rider wants the man who shot him with a BB gun caught.
"I hope he gets caught so he doesn't do it again," said Frank Bradley Jr. "I'm just not expecting to get shot on the bus! That's just ridiculous that it would even happen... If my head was turned and that thing had hit my eye, I'm pretty sure it would have blinded me."
Bradley rides the buses run by the Area Transportation Authority regularly. He caught a bus about 6 p.m. on April 6 in the River Market area en route to the Crossroads District.
While traveling on Grand Boulevard, he said two shots were fired from a BB gun. He said the first hit a woman in the seat in front of him. The pellet fell to the floor, making a metallic sound.
Bradley said the second shot struck him in the back of the head. He felt a sharp sting after he was hit.
He immediately alerted the bus driver, even though he wasn't sure at the time what he was struck by. The bus driver yelled at the riders, but didn't take any further action.
After Bradley's wound kept hurting and the welt swelled, he contacted police and ATA officials.
Bradley contacted KCTV5 on Friday about the April 6 shooting because he felt that Kansas City police and ATA officials were failing to pursue the violence aggressively. He said a police officer refused to take a police report when he went to Kansas City Police Department on April 16.
"My concern is that while each person involved in investigating and possibly apprehending the perpetrators of this crime is explaining to me that 'these things take time,' these people could be riding around on KCATA buses doing this to other passengers," Bradley said in his letter to KCTV5. "If my head had been turned when this incident took place, a BB pistol firing a metal projectile at that close range certainly created enough force to blind me if it had hit me in the eye or maim me or another passenger, possibly permanently, in some other way."
The ATA did pull the surveillance video and provided KCTV5 with a copy of it. The video shows a man firing an air gun and the pop of the trigger.
Cindy Baker, spokeswoman for the ATA, said the publicly funded company takes the safety of its passengers seriously. She said cameras are on most buses for that reason.
"It helps our operators. It helps with customer complaints," Baker said. "You can decide what really happened. That's why we have these to help people feel a little safer."
If you recognize the person, call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.
Bradley is still riding the bus, but hopes that the person is caught.
"I am not going to let anyone chase me off this bus," he said. "It's a public bus. Everyone has the right to ride it, and I refuse to live my life in fear."
Copyright 2012 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved.
