Ramon Villagomez Dallas bus hijacking: Mystery joy ride ends in shootout death of bandit wanted for questioning in girlfriend’s stabbing murder.
A man who hijacked a Dallas-area bus, forcing the driver to drive through multiple cities before being killed in a shootout had been wanted for questioning in the fatal stabbing of his Texas girlfriend, authorities said.
Ramon Thomas Villagomez, 31, got on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit bus with two people aboard in Richardson, just north of Dallas, at around 11 a.m. Sunday and opened fire, shattering windows, DART officials said.
Police said Ramon Villagomez then took the driver hostage and fired at DART officers who tried to stop the bus, which had one other passenger aboard. The chase wound its way through several cities, before ending when spike strips stopped the bus, Garland Police Lt. Pedro Barineau said in a Facebook statement.
NBC DFW reported the bus driver being a 65-year-old man along with a solitary female passenger on board during the ordeal.
Mystery hijacking motive & long criminal record:
Villagomez continued firing after he got out of the bus and officers returned fire, incapacitated him. Villagomez was taken to a local hospital where he later died.
A DART officer and a Garland police officer were shot and wounded, but their injuries weren’t considered life-threatening, Barineau said. The bus driver and passenger weren’t injured.
‘You could not have asked for a worse situation,’ Barineau said Sunday. ‘Somebody has taken a driver of a bus hostage, is shooting at the police as we are pursuing them, and there are people around all over the roads. We were very fortunate — as of now, we have not received any reports that anyone else was injured.’
Villagomez had been wanted for questioning in San Antonio for the death of his girlfriend, as well as having an arrest warrant for aggravated assault of a relative in Brazoria County, police said. Villagomez’s girlfriend, Catherine Menendez, 41, was found stabbed to death on April 7, KSAT reported.
Not immediately clear is what motivated Villagomez in hijacking the city bus.