Minnesota security guard charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting school bus driver

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A St. Paul, Minnesota man was charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a school bus driver after a crash on Interstate 35W in Minneapolis Tuesday. 

Kenneth Lilly, 31, was charged Thursday with attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault. 

According to the criminal complaint, the bus driver, a contractor for Minneapolis Public Schools, was trying to merge onto Interstate 35W near Chicago Avenue when the bus apparently scraped Lilly’s black sedan. The bus driver was reportedly unaware he had hit anything. 

Near the split with Interstate 94, Lilly stopped his car in the lane of traffic, got out and walked towards the bus. He walked to the passenger door and reportedly tried to get onto the bus. 

The driver told Lilly he could not come in because there was a student on the bus. Video showed Lilly walk towards the driver’s side of the bus and pull out a 9 millimeter semiautomatic pistol. He then walked toward the front of the bus and fired five shots at the windshield. 

Lilly then walked to the driver’s side of the bus and called 911. He told officers he shot the driver because he feared for his safety. 

Lilly was arrested at the scene and the bus driver was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center for a wound to his left arm and graze wound to his head. 

The student on the bus was not injured.  

“The actions of Mr. Lilly were outrageous and it was sheer luck that neither the bus driver nor the little girl were killed,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement. 

Lilly is expected to make his first court appearance on Friday.