Sandy MaloneKalamazoo, MI – Officials released a series of videos on Dec. 1 that showed what happened when a gunman opened fire at a Kalamazoo bus station (video below).
Michigan State Police (MSP) and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) released dashcam videos from the bus, security footage from several areas in the bus station, and bodycam from the officers who responded to the incident that began at 9:11 a.m. on Nov. 27, WOOD reported.
A camera on a bus captured video of a man running for his life toward a parked bus with 54-year-old Anthony Oliver on his heels at the Kalamazoo Transit Center at Kalamazoo Avenue and Burdick Street.
Oliver had a gun in his hand as he chased the man into the bus, the video showed.
The video showed that Oliver stepped onto the bus, fired one shot at the man at close range, and then stepped back off the bus.
He continued to stand and point his gun into the bus but the bus driver closed the doors in front of him.
The video showed he let out a grunt of rage or frustration and then turned, gun in hand, and stalked off.
The bus driver called her dispatcher for assistance and continued to relay information about the gunman’s location as the incident unfolded.
At one point, the video showed the driver warned that the gunman was reloading.
The videos showed that Oliver walked around the bus station shooting at random people and turned around and walked back toward the bus.
Shouting can be heard in the background and the bus driver told her dispatcher that the gunman was trying to get back on the bus, the video showed.
“He’s coming back, he’s coming back, he’s coming back,” the driver yelled in the video.
Then she warned that he was headed toward security.
“He’s shooting at security down here,” a man’s voice announced over the radio in the video seconds later.
Then Oliver came flying back past the bus as the first officer arrived on the scene.
Bodycam video showed that as one officer got closer to Oliver, there was a gunshot, WOOD reported.
Then the video showed the officer raised his weapon and returned fire.
MSP said Oliver was shot in a brief gunfight, WOOD reported.
He was transported to the hospital for treatment and later died.
State police said a total of three other people were shot during Oliver’s rampage through the bus station, WOOD reported.
All three have since been released from the hospital to recuperate at home.
MSP said three officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted as is protocol for all officer-involved shootings, WOOD reported.
KDPS Chief Vernon Coakley praised his officers’ quick response to the incident.
Officers were on the scene within two minutes after the shooting started, WWMT reported.
“I want to give a big thanks to the men and women of KDPS who responded that morning to gunfire,” Chief Coakley told reporters.
Investigators said that Oliver had a history of mental illness and had attempted suicide-by-cop in 2018.
He was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation but later released, WWMT reported.
Police do not know how Oliver got the gun he used for his bus station shooting spree, or if he owned it legally, but said the person who it was registered to was not the gunman.
“We have tracked down and spoken with the last registered of the gun,” Michigan State Police Detective Lieutenant Shane Criger said. “The last information is that the gun changed three times between the last registered owner of the gun and this incident.”
Oliver’s family has claimed that the gunman was seeking help for mental illness when the shooting rampage occurred, WWMT reported.
The gunman’s nephew said he had just taken his uncle to the hospital and refilled his prescriptions.
State police said that Oliver had an extensive criminal history, WWMT reported.
“The suspect did have an extensive criminal history which includes assault and armed robbery of a police officer in the past,” Det. Lt. Criger said.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content:
Holly Matkin
