Six people are dead and all Greyhound bus departures were halted at approximately 4:15 a.m. Wednesday, after a passenger of a Greyhound bus slit the bus driver's throat with a sharp object, possibly a box-cutter or razor.
FBI investigators say the passenger acted alone, not as part of a terrorist plot, according to CNN.
The Greyhound bus was in Manchester, Tenn., en route to Orlando, Fla., from Chicago.
Passenger Carly Rinearson later recounted the incident to CNN affiliate WTVF in Nashville, Tenn. Rinearson said that the attacker asked her for her seat at the front of the bus. When she refused, 'He just went up to the bus driver and like slit his throat,' she told CNN.
The attacker then grabbed the driving wheel and steered the bus across the median and off the road, where the bus flipped.
The bus driver managed to climb out of the wreck and get help. The wreck sent 32 of the 38 passengers to area hospitals. The attacker was one of the six who died from the crash, while the bus driver, after being treated for his wound, is in stable condition.
Following the attack, Greyhound halted all of its buses until noon Wednesday, causing several bus cancellations and delays.
FBI officials immediately investigated the bus incident and found that the attacker was 29-year-old Damir Igrich, a Croatian man who entered the United States in March 1999 with a 30-day visa, CNN reported.
'Officials assure me that they believe this tragic accident was a result of an isolated act by a single deranged individual,' Greyhound President Craig Lentzsch said in a press conference.
In response, Greyhound is refunding passengers who chose not to travel and employees were excused from work Wednesday. Furthermore, Amtrak offered to honor Greyhound tickets, space permitted, CNN reported.
To prevent another attack, Greyhound has begun to search carry-on bags. In addition to this, the bus line will now conduct passenger identification checks, according to Scott Kreisler, manager of the Badger Greyhound Depot, 2 S. Bedford St.
In Madison, however, no extra precautions are being taken regarding local bus systems, including Badger Coaches, which did not interrupt service, Kreisler said.
'There is no effect at all [on Badger Bus lines] by this incident,' Kreisler said.
Madison Metro bus systems will not be taking any extra formal actions to prevent these types of incidents either, according to Madison Metro spokesperson Julie Walsh.
'I think that our drivers have been driving with a heightened sense of caution [already],' Walsh said. 'No extra precautions beyond the extra precautions we have been taking for quite some time now [will be introduced].'
