Video shows bullets pierce school bus window narrowly missing students

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CHARLOTTE — Surveillance video shows bullets piercing a school bus window narrowly missing dozens of students onboard.

No one was shot on Monday when the Albemarle Middle School bus -- filled with 30 students -- was struck by at least two bullets. Two students had minor injuries from broken glass.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said the gunfire came from a drug deal outside the bus along East W.T. Harris Boulevard.

Two convicted felons, who were arrested after a school bus shooting in east Charlotte, have lengthy criminal records.

Tuesday afternoon, police said Lamarius Ramel Anthony, 21, was arrested and charged in connection with this case. He was charged with having drugs and possession of a concealed weapon and was released from jail the same day.

On Wednesday, Paris Lewis Bynum, 20, was arrested and charged in the same shooting.

Bynum was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill, and possession of a stolen vehicle. He is in the Mecklenburg County jail after Judge Fritz Mercer gave him no bond.

Lewis-Bynum was arrested seven times since September of 2022, according to jail records.

Some of the charges he’s faced included attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a stolen weapon, breaking or entering a motor vehicle and there are more.

Some of those charges were dropped over the years but he pleaded guilty in two cases, including in August to attempted possession of a firearm by a felon. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and probation.

On Thursday, a viewer sent Channel 9 a social media post that appears to show Lewis-Bynum and others flaunting guns.

“This has been a frustration for years,” said Dan Redford, the president of the Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police. “It really goes into play the failures that we’ve had in this county in not holding violent criminals accountable.”

Redford said he’s not surprised but is frustrated and this time, the community dodged a bullet.

“We could have had four, five kids on this bus that we could have had to bury and having to go explain to mom and dad and to their family why it is their child died,” Redford said. “And the senselessness behind these two morons out here on the street that aren’t supposed to have guns.”

Redford and others have said it’s a slap in the face to officers who continue to arrest suspects over and over again.

CMPD: Second arrest made in school bus shooting

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