Police arrest Philly man they say shot four people on SEPTA bus in Fairmount Park

A Philadelphia man police say shot four people — including three children — on a SEPTA bus in Fairmount Park over the weekend has been arrested.

Hakim Ali Bryant, 52, was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, simple assault, and related crimes for shooting at the three teen boys and a 39-year-old woman on a Route 15 bus at 33rd Street and Girard Avenue on Saturday evening, District Attorney Larry Krasner said Wednesday.

Bryant is being held on $850,000 bail, according to court records.

The argument started when Bryant, of the 7600 block of Overbrook Avenue, started talking to the teens while on the bus, said Assistant District Attorney Kelsey Gimaro. The teens wanted to be left alone and the conversation soon turned volatile, she said, and one of the teens flipped Bryant’s hat off his head.

Bryant then pulled out a gun and fired at least nine shots in the direction of the teens, sending passengers scrambling for cover, Gimaro said.

“There were about 10 [people] in range of where he was shooting and everyone on that bus that survived is traumatized by the violence they witnessed and barely escaped,” she said.

Bryant fled the scene after the shooting, police said.

Two 16-year old boys were injured in the gunfire, one shot in his right foot, the other grazed in his back, police said. A 14-year-old boy was also injured, shot in his left hand.

All three teens were taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and listed in stable condition, police said.

The 39-year-old woman was grazed by a bullet on her left shoulder. She declined to be taken to a hospital but was treated at the scene, police said.

Bryant was convicted of robbery in 1993, Gimaro said, and as a consequence was prohibited from owning a gun. No weapon has been recovered.