CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A CATS bus driver and a passenger got into a shootout on May 18, exchanging gunfire on a city bus several times, CATS interim CEO Brent Cagle said.

Bus drivers, employed by city contractor RATPDev, are not allowed to have weapons while they are working, Cagle said. On Thursday, a spokesperson for CATS said the driver has been terminated.

What You Need To Know

  • A CATS bus driver and a passenger got into a shootout on a bus May 18, sending both to the hospital with injuries

  • A spokesperson for CATS said the driver was terminated

  • The passenger faces several charges from the incident, but police have not said whether they plan to charge the driver

  • The interim CEO for CATS said bus drivers, hired by a third-party contractor, are not allowed to carry guns

  • Safety has been a big concern for bus drivers in Charlotte. A bus driver was shot and killed in what police called a "road rage incident" in February 2022

The shootings happened on a bus near the Charlotte Premium Outlets at about 11:15 a.m., police said. The passenger and driver started arguing because the man wanted to get off the bus between stops, Cagle said during a news conference Wednesday.

“The passenger produced a firearm. At some point as this altercation progressed, the operator stopped the bus or pulled the bus over and produced a firearm as well,” Cagle said.

Both the driver, identified as David Fuller, and the passenger, 22-year-old Omarri Shariff Tobias, were taken to the hospital with injuries, Cagle said. There were two other passengers on the bus at the time, he said.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department charged Tobias with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injuries, communicating threats and carrying a concealed firearm.

Cagle said police have not said whether they plan to charge the driver with any crimes related to the shootout.

“Possession of a firearm or other weapon is prohibited” by employees with the transit system, Cagle said. He said for a driver to be carrying a gun was a “dismissal violation.”

Cagle said there is video from the shootout and his department is going through a process with the Transportation Security Administration to release the footage.

Safety has been a top concern for operators with CATS since a bus driver was shot and killed Feb. 11, 2022.

Police said that shooting appeared to be a road rage incident and charged Darian Dru Thavychith in the killing. Thavychith remains in Mecklenburg County jail.

There was also a stabbing on a CATS streetcar on May 4.

Drivers on CATS buses have three ways to call for help, Cagle said. They have a radio they can use to contact their central operations center.

There are also two silent alarms, he said. One contacts the operations center and employees can hear everything happening in the bus, the other puts a message on the outside of the bus asking people to call police, Cagle said.

He said the bus driver in the May 18 incident did not trigger either of the alarms or call for help.

Cagle said CATS plans to increase training for drivers on how to deescalate tense situations.

“Clearly, it is always better to head off these confrontations through deescalation. In this instance, that didn’t happen,” he said.

“Gun violence is pervasive throughout the community and CATS is not immune to that,” Cagle said.