Man Takes 19 Students and School Bus Driver Hostage and is Captured by Police

26-year-old Stephen Decker boarded a school bus during a stop and told the driver that he had a gun and a bomb.  The man demanded $25,000 in cash.  The driver called 911 and deputies from the Henry County Sheriff’s Department responded and took the man into custody.  No injuries were reported.  No weapons were found when Mr. Decker was taken into custody.

School bus hostage situations are rare in the United States but there have been other incidents around the United States.  School bus safety is a challenging issue because school buses are so mobile and routes often cover large geographic regions across the country.  School bus hostage situations in other countries have often been acts of school bus terrorism.

About Michael Dorn

Michael Dorn serves as the Executive Director of Safe Havens International, a non-profit school safety center. The author of 27 books on school safety, Michael’s campus safety work has taken him to 11 countries over the past 34 years.