Road rage investigated in fatal shooting of Charlotte bus driver

(NEW YORK) — A Charlotte, North Carolina, city bus driver has died after being shot while at the wheel and on his route with passengers aboard in what police are investigating as a possible road rage incident, authorities said.

Ethan Rivera, 41, a driver for the Charlotte Area Transit System, died at a hospital Saturday night, a day after being shot while operating a bus in a busy area of uptown Charlotte, police said.

No arrests have been announced as of Sunday as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police homicide detectives combed through surveillance video and urged witnesses to come forward with information that could help identify the shooter.

Rivera was on his route about 9:30 p.m. Friday when he was shot while stopped at a red light, authorities said. Police sources told ABC affiliate WSOC-TV in Charlotte that investigators are looking into whether the shooting is linked to a road-rage altercation with a motorist.

Police officers found the bus veered off the road with the mortally wounded driver still in his seat.

Four passengers aboard the bus were not injured, police said.

Rivera’s co-workers told WSOC that the shooting has left them upset and fearful for their own lives.

“We worry every day. We worry and we pray that we make it home the same way we made it to work,” said one driver, who asked not to be identified.

Another city driver said of Rivera, “He was a good co-worker. I think he’s been in Charlotte less than two years, but every time you saw him, he was always smiling. Always smiling.”

The shooting came just two days after a school bus operator in Minneapolis was shot in the head while driving home three children. None of the children were injured and the driver is expected to survive, police said.

No arrests have been made in the Minneapolis shooting and police are investigating whether the driver was targeted or struck by a stray bullet, authorities said.