12:34 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 19, 2006

From 11 News Staff Reports

Reggie Aqui's 11 News report

As children get ready for school Wednesday morning, they may have a few questions – especially those who were riding the HISD bus that was shot at Tuesday.

Officials have not caught a suspect, and it’s unknown if the bullet that hit the bus hit its intended target.

Many parents, who were worried about their children's safety, drove them to school.

"We live in Pearland, and I had to drive her here to school, and my husband will pick her up after school," parents Cheryl Benjamin said. "It's really sad that our children can't even go to school safe. I mean it's a horrible, horrible thing."

At the time of the shooting, there were about 30 students from both Johnston Middle School and Westbury High School.

When the bus was shot at Tuesday afternoon, the quick-thinking bus driver sped away from the scene and brought them to another middle school.

Some of the students onboard did see the alleged shooter running away from the scene, and they have provided police with a description.

“We were sitting down, and then we just heard this pop and it just, glass was everywhere and everybody was screaming crazy,” injured student Kendria Holmes said. “It was – it just cut me and it hit another girl.”

Sitting in the middle of the bus, it would take seconds before Holmes and her friend realized the pop was coming from their window.

"Glass was everywhere and everybody was screaming, crazy," she said. "Maya was bleeding and there was a hole in the window and then we knew we got hit," said Holmes.

The two injured teens only suffered minor cuts and were treated at the scene. A third student was hyperventilating and was also treated at the scene.

The bus was shot at about 4:45 p.m. as it traveled in south Houston.

KHOU-TV

The hole in the school bus window.

Parents were notified and picked up many of the students. The remaining students were taken on another school bus.

"I got a call my daughter was on the bus," said Holmes' father.

His daughter wasn't just on the bus. She was one of the two girls struck. Holmes showed where fragments of the glass hit her on her back.

School district police as well as Houston police officers were investigating the shooting. No information was immediately available on a possible motive or what kind of weapon was used.

Adriana Villareal, a spokeswoman for the district, said she believes only one shot hit the bus. She doesn't know if other shots were fired.

Late Tuesday night, HISD confirmed that bullet fragments had been found on the bus, but they don't know what kind of gun they were from.