Argument at Downtown bus stop continues onto bus, ends with 1 shot

An argument over who was looking at whom at a Downtown Pittsburgh bus stop Tuesday ended with one man shot in the neck and both in jail, according to charges filed against the two men.

Port Authority police found Rodney Culberson and Joseph Thomas wrestling near the rear of the bus, which was near the intersection of Liberty Avenue and Ninth Street, according to the criminal complaint. Officers were responding about 11 a.m. to a report of a shooting aboard the 82 Lincoln bus.

Police said Culberson told them he’d been waiting at the bus stop when a man, later identified as Thomas, approached and locked eyes with him, asking Culberson what he was looking at, according to the complaint.

Culberson allegedly told Thomas to relax, “because he don’t know what he is capable of and vice versa,” police wrote. He said Thomas followed him onto the bus and became aggressive, “reaching toward his waistband.”

Culberson said he felt threatened and thus shot Thomas in the neck, according to the complaint. The two grappled, and Thomas grabbed the gun from Culberson before Culberson took out the gun’s magazine and tossed it away.

Both men were found to have marijuana on them, police said.

Port Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said there were about a dozen people on the bus when the fight and shooting happened. He said the men continued to wrestle each other after the sole shot was fired, at which point police arrived.

Culberson, 25, of Lincoln-Lemington, is charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and possession of a small amount of marijuana. Thomas, 29, of the Hill District, is charged with possessing a small amount of marijuana. His injuries are not life-threatening, Ritche said.

Witnesses told Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV they saw the incident unfold from outside the bus.

“We just came up and there was a noise on the bus. And two people appeared to be wrestling each other into a seat,” said Alicia Alexander, who works in that area and was outside when the bus stopped right in front of her.

Another man told the TV station a woman with an infant was aboard during the shooting.

“The lady with the baby got out and was standing right outside the door and we could hear her call police,” said Chance Cope. “We heard her say there was a gun. Then she told them he had taken the clip out.”

Megan Guza and Natasha Lindstrom are Tribune-Review staff writers.