Chattanooga: 2 men found guilty in school bus shooting

Friday, July 13, 2012

photo Lonta Burress Jr. and Darius Gustus turn to watch the first witness approach the stand during the opening of the 2012 school bus stop shooting trial. Burress and Gustus are accused of being involved in a drive-by shooting in 2010 that targeted students exiting a school bus. No one was injured in the event.

A jury has found two men guilty in a 2010 shooting at a school bus stop.

Lonta Burress, Jr. and Darius Gustus were charged with aggravated assault and evading arrest in connection with the Dec. 7, 2010 incident. No one was injured in the shooting.

Burress was arrested in connection with a 2010 Coolidge Park shooting along with two other defendants. Charges were dismissed in Juvenile Court when a key witness changed his story about that shooting.

Six months after the school bus shooting, on June 1, 2011, police say Burress shot and killed Darius Townsend while free on bond awaiting trial in the school bus shooting.

A grand jury indicted Burress on a first-degree murder charge in that case. The trial date in that killing is pending the outcome of the current trial.