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March 18, 2024

Incensed Greyhound bus passenger repeatedly stabs driver on highway near Sloan Friday night

Greyhound bus

Associated Press

Hundreds of patients over several years were discharged from Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas and placed on Greyhound buses bound for cities across the country.

Updated Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 | 7:39 p.m.

A driver of a Greyhound Bus that was headed toward Las Vegas Friday night was stabbed twice in the chest and once in the thigh by an unruly passenger, who then tried to punch vehicles on Interstate 15 near Sloan, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol.

The startling confrontation that preceded the stabbing was heard by an emergency dispatch operator, detailed in a recording released this afternoon by NHP. “Shut the (expletive) door, homie,” the suspect is heard saying.

The driver — a 55-year-old man who suffered serious injuries, but is expected to recover — called 911 about 11 p.m. regarding an unruly passenger who was refusing to sit down or leave the bus, officials said. The driver had pulled over on I-15, just south of Las Vegas.

The suspect, Armando Juarez, 31, was arrested by troopers on the highway, officials said. He was taken to University Medical Center and booked at the on a count of attempted murder at the Clark County Detention Center, officials said. The driver also was rushed to UMC.

The driver remained calm throughout the ordeal, and is heard on the recording telling Juarez, “I need you to step of the bus” and “I need you to sit down.”

An operator is heard asking the driver if Juarez is standing next to him and if he’s threatening him, to which he replies "yes."

“Shut the (expletive) door, dawg, shut the (expletive door) homie,” the suspect is heard saying before the 70-second altercation is heard on the recording. The driver comes back on the line telling the operator that he’d been stabbed.

“I kicked him off the bus” and shut the door, the driver said in the recording, later describing Juarez and his movements on the highway.

Juarez exited the bus and ran across the highway, taking his shirt off and trying to punch passing vehicles, before he was arrested a few minutes later, officials said.

The Highway Patrol also released photos of the moderately-sized blade and a detached handle.

There were 23 passengers on the bus, which was heading from California, NHP said. No other injuries were reported.

Further details were not immediately available.