After school bus attack, parents, bus drivers want change in Prince George's County Public Schools

GREATER LANDOVER, Md. — Two weeks ago, a group of kids hopped on a Prince George's County School bus and tried to shoot another kid. The gun never went off. On Tuesday, that child's mother told her community she thinks more needs to be done to keep our children safe.

She's not alone.

This was so brazen that families are worried something like this could happen again.

WUSA9 heard about these concerns during a public safety meeting Tuesday night.

They are demanding the decision makers who meet behind these doors take some specific steps to make busses safer, which they say will only make schools safer, too.

And it is no stretch to say they are praying someone here will listen.

At the City of Praise chapel in Landover, prayers for students.

"We all have the same objective to have safety in our communities."

Police say three juveniles in masks forced their way past a bus driver and aide to attack a middle school student.

That bus driver told this crowd she felt helpless.

"Kicking him; hitting him," the bus driver recalled.

Police say one of the kids had a gun, pressed the barrel against the student and tried to fire, but the gun never went off.

"My baby had a barrel print on his face right here," the boy's mother said Tuesday. "When he got off the bus, [he said], 'I'm not getting on the bus no more,' and I could do nothing but say, 'OK.'"

The 14-year-old victim's mother asked WUSA9 not to use their names with the three suspects still on the loose.

"We have not been able to go back home," she said. "I don't feel safe. He doesn't feel safe."

Organized by the bus driver's union, many at this meeting said Prince George's County Public Schools needs to train its driver to deal with guns and consider new technologies to keep weapons off buses.

The state's attorney says she will encourage county and school leaders to make security changes.

The mother of the boy who was attacked says she needs another answered prayer for the safety of her son.

"And I'm just praying, and I just thank God because my baby is a proven fact of God," she said.

The school district wasn't part of the meeting, but WUSA9 did send over what the bus drivers and others are asking for, and we'll let you know when we get an response from the district.

As for those kids who attacked the student police are still looking for them.