Stray bullet finds packed school bus in Camden
Police said no children were injured when a stray bullet hit their school bus Thursday afternoon in Camden's Centerville section.
ON ONE of the first days of the new school year, dismissal was marked by terror for a group of children and their parents in Camden yesterday, when police say a stray bullet hit a school bus in the city's Centerville section.
No one was hurt, said Camden County police spokesman Michael Daniels. He said the bus was traveling near 9th Street and Ferry Avenue about 3:30 p.m. when shots rang out and one of the bullets caught the bus.
"It looks as though it was an unintended target," Daniels said.
There were at least 20 children on the bus, all ages 3 or 4, who were part of the Center for Family Services' Centerville Head Start program, said Merilee Rutolo, who runs Head Start.
"Parents were understandably upset," said Rutolo, who went to the scene immediately after the shooting. "The children actually were very strong, and many of them really weren't aware of what occurred."
After being checked by emergency medical personnel, the kids were back in the care of their parents shortly after the incident, Rutolo said.
Officials have said a main goal of the new Camden County police force, which took over patrol of Camden city in May, has been to reduce daytime shooting incidents in the city.
Last month, as the force marked the milestone of its 90th day on patrol, Chief Scott Thomson said daytime shootings had dropped by 44 percent compared with last year, while daytime homicides decreased 91 percent.