By Suzi Parker
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Oct 17 (Reuters) – An Arkansas man
wielding a knife hijacked a school bus carrying 11 elementary
school students as well as the driver on Thursday morning, but
all the children were freed unharmed, police said.
Police pursued the bus for several miles before they could
arrest the man, identified as Nicholas John Miller, and free the
children, Police Captain Kenny Boyd, of Jacksonville, Arkansas,
said.
Boyd said that Miller, 22, had first approached a woman
outside of a Jacksonville apartment complex in an attempt to
carjack a vehicle. The woman said she did not have a car.
Miller, armed with an “unknown type of knife,” then ran and
jumped on the bus, Boyd said.
Boyd said the children were taken to the Jacksonville Police
Department and reunited with their parents. He said police have
not identified a motive for the hijacking, adding that the
investigation was ongoing.
Miller was charged on Thursday with one count of vehicle
piracy, a dozen counts of kidnapping and two counts of
aggravated assault, all felonies.
(Reporting by Suzi Parker in Little Rock, Arkansas; Editing by
Leslie Adler)
