Greyhound Suspect Awaits Extradition, Driver Removed From Duty

WAUKEGAN, IL — A Chicago man has been charged with threatening to kill fellow bus passengers following a 17-mile interstate chase of a Greyhound coach Friday night. Prosecutors have not charged the bus' driver, but he has been removed from duty as the company investigates.

Margarito Vargas-Rosas, 33, most recently of the 2000 block of South Archer Avenue, is being held without bond at Lake County Jail pending extradition to face changes in Wisconsin, where he has been charged with one count of making a terrorist threat, a felony, and one count of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

The pursuit began around 9:45 p.m. when police received at least two 911 calls from passengers on the bus who reported a man was suggesting he had a gun and threatening to kill "everybody on the bus," according to dispatchers.

"It appears that Vargas-Rosas had a verbal altercation with at least two passengers on the bus," Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling told reporters Sunday. He said the suspect was pacing around the bus and grabbing at his waistband. One passenger said Vargas-Rosas had threatened to "put a bullet in our head," and appeared to draw a weapon from his pants.

Sheriff's deputies intercepted the bus on I-94 in Racine County, but the driver failed to stop. Dozens of law enforcement officers from multiple agencies on both sides of the state line joined in the pursuit.

Spike strips were eventually used to stop the bus about 2 miles into Illinois, near Route 173 in Wadsworth.

Vargas-Rosas was escorted out of the bus at gunpoint "somewhat reluctantly," Schmaling said. He first walked off the bus with other passengers, before turning around and walking back up the stairs, according to Sgt. Chris Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff's Office. After his arrest, he continued to make threats about shooting people, according to police.

The Greyhound's driver told police he did not realize what was going on in the back of his bus, according to Schmaling.

"The bus driver indicated that he did not stop because he thought it was either a training exercise by law enforcement or thought they were trying to stop someone else," he said. "The bus driver had no idea this was happening."

"I know it sounds rather hard to wrap our minds around how do you not know you're being pulled over. I think he ultimately realized this was a serious event when we spiked his tires," Schmaling said. "His tires became flat – at least two of them did – and he rolled into the state of Illinois where he came to a rest."

Police have not found any weapons on board the bus, which they seized pending a complete search.

A Greyhound spokesperson said it was fully cooperating and conducting its own internal investigation.

"Our investigation includes interviewing the driver and customers to obtain additional details," said Senior Communications Specialist Lanesha Gipson, who said the driver was "out of service pending the completion of the investigation."

Some passengers told the Lake County News-Sun the driver kept going after the bus drove over spike strips.

"You need to stop," people in the back of the bus began to shout.

Numerous law enforcement agencies responded to the scene, including sheriff's deputies from Racine and Kenosha counties in Wisconsin, Illinois State Police and teams from the Lake County sheriff's office, according to Covelli. He said 29 deputies responded, nearly half of them from the county's tactical response team, members of which area distributed on each shift.

Police from Waukegan, Gurnee, Lincolnshire, Libertyville and Vernon Hills also assisted with the operation, which disrupted traffic in both directions on I-94 for hours.

After Vargas-Rosas was arrested, federal immigration authorities issued an immigration detainer seeking his removal, according to Sheriff Schmaling.

In the past 15 years, he has been deported to Mexico twice and returned there from California voluntarily once, according to spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement.

Vargas-Rosas illegally re-entered the country sometime during the past five years, according to federal officials. He was previously arrested in Marion County, Oregon, according to the spokesperson. The Marion County sheriff's office confirmed he was arrested there and charged with drunk driving in 2005.

_{Top photo: Margarito Vargas-Rosas booking photograph | Lake County Sheriff}