In the past 45 days, Apple and Google employee charter buses in the San Francisco Bay area have reportedly been shot at 20 times. In response, the companies have begun rerouting the buses, which travel along the I-280 corridor that connects San Francisco to cities down the peninsula, like Santa Clara and Cupertino, where Apple’s headquarters is based.
Now, in an effort to catch the culprits, the California High Patrol has started driving a decoy bus that officers hope will lure the shooter into firing, according to an ABC7 report Wednesday.
It’s suspected that the shooter has been shooting a BB gun from another vehicle. “They’ve damaged windows. They’ve dented the exterior of the vehicles,” California Highway Patrol Commander Earnest Sanchez told the local news station. “Sometimes it appears it’s from a moving vehicle, and sometimes it appears it’s from a stationary site on the side of the road,” Sanchez said. The CHP is getting help from the FBI, and a $10,000 reward has been offered for information that may help lead to the arrest of those responsible.
The buses that have been shot are unmarked charter shuttles, which have become a symbol of gentrification brought on by the tech industry in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2013, a charter bus shuttling Google employees had its tires slashed and a window broken in West Oakland. In December 2013 and January 2014, protesters regularly blocked the private tech worker buses, held banners, chanted at employees, and handed out flyers in protest of the skyrocketing housing prices in the city.
