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Two more suspects arrested in Coatesville High School bus shooting
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Two more suspects arrested in Coatesville High School bus shooting

Two men have been charged with attempted murder and related crimes in school bus shooting in Coatesville last month.

Gabriel Johnson, 17, was one of the two gunmen who fired eight shots on a bus carrying Coatesville Area Senior High School students on Oct. 10, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office. Jose Medina, 20, who was seen with Johnson at the time but did not allegedly shoot at the bus, was also charged.

Johnson remained in custody on $1 million bail. Medina is also detained, awaiting his arraignment, scheduled for Tuesday morning. It was not clear if any of them had hired a lawyer.

The bus was hit by gunfire as it was dropping off students at the intersection of Hope Avenue and Charles Street. Authorities have said the shooting was targeted and arose from a dispute between students.

A Coatesville Area Senior High School student, Jaki White-Marshall, 18, was arrested days after the shooting, and prosecutors said they are still searching for a fourth person, who shot at the bus alongside Johnson.

White-Marshall is awaiting a preliminary hearing in the case. His attorney, Vincent Caputo, said White-Marshall was a bystander who was not involved in the shooting.

On the day of the incident, gunshots were heard around 2:30 p.m., shattering the bus’s windshield and causing the driver and 27 students on board to dive for cover, according to an arrest affidavit of probable cause. by White-Marshall.

When the bus stopped to drop off some students, Medina, White-Marshall, Johnson and a fourth person were seen walking toward the intersection of Hope Avenue and Madison Street, prosecutors said. Johnson and the unidentified gunman opened fire on the bus. The group then ran down nearby Lemon Street, jumped into a parked Kia Optima and fled.

Investigators said they were able to trace the vehicle to White-Marshall’s grandmother. The car had been involved in a police chase in August, during which White-Marshall was driving and Medina was riding in the passenger seat, according to court records.

In an interview, White-Marshall’s grandmother said he had borrowed her car hours before the shooting and was supposed to drop it off at his mother’s house, according to the affidavit.

White’s mother later told police that her son led the group to the scene of the shooting, but she said her son did not shoot at the bus, according to the affidavit. He was only there, he said, to engage in a fist fight with other students. She declined to identify the other people who were there with her son.

That planned fight, investigators said, was the culmination of a simmering dispute between students at the school.

The mother of two children who attend Coatesville Area Senior High School told police that her children had been attacked by four men in ski masks at that same bus stop on Oct. 8, two days before the shooting, according to the sworn statement. And on Oct. 10, she said one of her sons got into another fight at school and was sent home early. Her other son took the bus home and the group of four men shot him as he got off the bus, according to the affidavit.

When investigators searched White-Marshall’s home, they found a ski mask and black clothing that matched the description of the clothing worn by members of the group that attacked the bus, according to the affidavit.

The investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Chester County District Attorney’s Office at 610-344-6866 or the City of Coatesville Police Department at 610-384-2300.