Passenger went into ‘survival mode’ when gunfire erupted on CATS bus

Glenn Counts
·2 min read

Joshua Davis never imagined he would be caught in the line of fire but two weeks ago, he was an innocent bystander when gunfire erupted on a CATS bus in southwest Charlotte.

Davis got on the bus on May 18 to go to work.

‘I dare you’: CATS bus video released after driver, passenger shootout

“It was calm,” Davis told Channel 9. “I was going about my regular day.”

That changed with Omarri Shariff Tobias, 22, got onboard and asked the driver to let him off at an unscheduled stop. The driver refused.

“The boy didn’t like that, of course,” Davis said. “He started making threats and saying, ‘Why you gonna be like that?’”

The video shows Tobias pulling out a gun and the driver, David Fuller, 55, did the same.

A shootout began once Tobias walked toward Fuller.

“I will never forget that smell of gunpowder and burning flesh,” Davis said. “That’s the first thing my senses picked up. I’m in survival mode. I hit the floor. I’m crawling around. I’m trying to avoid gunshots. I see smoke. I can hear the bullets but I’m trying not to pay attention to it.”

Davis could be seen on the video footage crawling on the floor to get away.

There was also a young lady on the bus who at one point, was wedged under the suspect.

“She was so scared,” Davis said. “I’ll never forget how frightened she was.”

Davis said he thinks the bus driver went too far in defending himself, but he doesn’t believe he should have been fired.

Davis thinks Fuller would’ve been killed if he wasn’t armed.

“I think I think the young man [Tobias] had the intention of being a problem,” Davis said.

The bus driver has not been charged. His attorney has not heard from the police and is hoping that no news is good news.

Both shooting victims were treated for gunshot wounds and survived.

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GRAPHIC CONTENT: RAW VIDEO: Shootout between CATS bus driver and passenger on May 18, 2023