Hundreds honor bus driver killed in Mar Vista shooting

Hundreds of people gathered Saturday night in Mar Vista to remember Bruce Rodriguez, a Culver City bus driver who was shot and killed while working Thursday after an argument with a passenger, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

The killing has focused attention on the dangers transit workers say they face, with drivers at the vigil calling for greater protections while Rodriguez’s family mourns a father of two young sons.

Mourners placed dozens of candles along the sidewalk at Centinela and Mitchell avenues and released balloons in memory of Rodriguez, ABC7 Los Angeles reported. The vigil came two days after he was killed while working.

Police said an argument broke out on the bus after a missed stop, and two witnesses told investigators they believed the passenger was intoxicated, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. Police said the passenger pulled out a gun and opened fire.

Police identified the suspect as Jose Zayas, 55. ABC7 Los Angeles reported that Zayas was arrested Friday, booked on suspicion of murder and held on $3 million bail.

Rodriguez’s wife, Sandy Sanchez, said the loss has devastated the family. "He didn't come home on Thursday," Sanchez told ABC7 Los Angeles. "No child should have to lose their father because he went to work," she said.

Kathy Sanchez, Rodriguez’s sister-in-law, told ABC7 Los Angeles that he was devoted to his children. "He loved being a dad… and just speaking to all of our families, he would send pictures all the time of the kids," she said.

Christine Ivey, a transit advocate from Santa Monica, said drivers regularly face abuse on the job. "It’s the physical abuse — they’re throwing urine, feces, liquids on us, food on us, spitting on us. These are things that drivers every day are faced with," Ivey told ABC7 Los Angeles.

ABC7 Los Angeles reported that an attorney for Rodriguez’s family said he had been threatened with a knife one month before the killing, and that a GoFundMe has been created to support his family.