WADSWORTH, Ill. -- Chilling moments for passengers on a Greyhound bus headed from Milwaukee to Chicago Friday night after a man claimed to have a gun and threatened to kill those on board.
Investigators say that suspect was in the United States illegally. He lives in Illnois, but was working at a restaurant in Milwaukee.
33-year-old Margarito Vargas-Rosas is now facing at least one felony charge. There were 36 others on the bus who were all unharmed.
Passenger Patrick Dodd said Vargas-Rosas started making threats almost immediately after they took off.
"Saying that he was going to kill us, that he was going put a bullet in our head," said Dodd.
Vargas-Rosas caught many passengers' attention, turning a calm ride into a frightening situation with no where to go.
"He was acting crazy that's basicaly what it boils down to," Dodd said. "We tried to get him to calm down, there was four or five people telling him he needs to sit back down. He refused to."
Dodd said that's when the threats turned into some sort of action.
"It did look like he had a weapon," Dodd said. "he looked like he drew something out of his pants. That's when we made the phone call."
According to investigators, at least two passengers on the bus called 911 Friday night shortly before 10 p.m. as it made its way through Milwaukee County. Passenger Terrance Williams says it didn't take long to notice all of the patrol lights.
"About 30 police was behind us," he recalled.
However, Williams said the bus driver kept going.
"They threw some spikes out, he avoided the first two, the third one totally blew out the tire," said Williams. "Then they had like a bunch of guns drawn,"
The vehicle eventually came to rest in Illinois. Williams says Vargas-Rosas didn't stop threatening passengers until they exited the bus. Law enforcement officers did not find a weapon on the suspect.
Authorities have applied for a search warrant to and plan to thoroughly inspect the bus.
