Chicago Police used facial recognition technology to identify and arrest the gunman who hijacked a CTA bus at gunpoint and kidnapped the bus driver prosecutors say.
The bus driver pulled his 54 Cicero bus into the terminal at Montrose and Cicero around 10:45 p.m. on January 13 but agreed to let Flowers stay on for the ride back south as long as he didn’t cause any trouble, prosecutors said.
After using the restroom and having a smoke, the driver boarded the bus and walked down the aisle looking for trash. Flowers was holding a gun when the driver walked past, prosecutors said.
The driver returned to his seat and tried to activate the panic alarm, but he later realized he had pushed the wrong button.
By then, it was too late. Flowers stepped to the front of the bus and stood next to the driver with a gun, repeatedly telling him to “be afraid,” according to prosecutors.
Flowers held the driver at gunpoint, first directing him to drive north and then ordering him to return to his usual route, according to a court filing.
Flowers eventually exited at Division and Cicero about 25 minutes after the ordeal began.
CTA cameras captured the entire episode. Chicago police ran images of the hijacker through facial recognition software, which identified Flowers as the gunman, according to prosecutors.
They said police put a picture of Flowers in a photo lineup, and the bus driver identified him as the hijacker. Police staked out Flowers’ home and took him into custody.
“That’s me,” he allegedly replied after being shown a CTA image of the hijacker.
He explained that he remembered falling asleep on the bus and waking up to look for his wallet. But he said he did not have any conversation with the driver, according to court filings.
Detectives noted that he later conceded that the situation was “a big mistake.”
He is charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm and aggravated kidnapping.
Flowers was arrested on January 1 for driving on a license suspended for DUI, a felony.
He was released from the police station within hours, then failed to show up for his first court date on January 22, according to court records.
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