Accused LA Bus Hijacker Previously Spent Time in Prison – NBC Los Angeles

The man accused of seizing an LA Metro bus at gunpoint in South LA, holding a driver and a passenger hostage and murdering another passenger was previously in state prison for transporting or selling controlled substances, as records and officials confirmed Thursday.

Lamont A. Campbell was arrested Wednesday by LAPD SWAT officers following the overnight standoff and pursuit that left the bus passenger dead after multiple gunshots, allegedly from Campbell, police said.

Jail records showed Campbell was being held without bail and was expected to make his first court appearance Monday.

As of Thursday afternoon, no criminal charges had been filed in connection with the bus hijacking.

Authorities have not released the name or age of the person murdered during the ordeal.

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Campbell, 51, served a five-year sentence for transportation or sale of a controlled substance in August 1996 and was paroled in 1998.

Campbell returned to prison in January 2010 to serve a six-year sentence for transportation or sale of a controlled substance after a prior conviction and was released on parole in 2011.

He was released from probation supervision the next year.

L.A. County Superior Court records show Campbell pleaded no contest to a drug possession charge in 2018 and was sentenced to three years probation.

The LAPD said officers responding to a shots fired call near Figueroa and West 119th St. spotted a man, later identified as Campbell, boarding the Metro bus early Wednesday.

The bus operator was forced at gunpoint to drive through downtown and stopped after driving over spike strips near 6th Street and Alameda Street, where LAPD SWAT team members stormed the bus, rescuing the driver and arrested Campbell.