Gwinnett County Transit bus hijacking: Fulton County DA seeks special prosecutor
Joseph Grier (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)
ATLANTA - A special prosecutor may be required to handle the case of the hijacked Gwinnett County Transit bus which happened on Tuesday.
DA Fani Wills in a letter to the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia on Wednesday outlining why her office could not prosecute the case against 39-year-old Joseph Grier. The letter states that the "victim/witness in the case is a current employee."
Grier faces charges of murder, kidnapping, and hijacking a motor vehicle. He was taken into custody after investigators say he held the driver of the bus at gunpoint, forcing the driver to take off from Downtown Atlanta up to Norcross and eventually through Tucker before stopping along Hugh Howell Road just miles from Stone Mountain.
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Seventeen people were on board the bus. During the incident, 58-year-old Ernest Byrd Jr. was shot and killed, according to the police.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum notes that Grier had been arrested 19 times, with some of the charges involving handgun use.