School bus driver speaks about surviving rolling gun battle; ‘I was just calling on the man upstairs’

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    ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOV) — The school bus driver caught in the middle of gunfire Friday spoke about surviving the crash and how she told her kids on the bus to get to safety.

Tomika Richardson was driving a school bus with 13 kids on board when it was caught in the middle of a gun fight.

“I was just calling on God the man upstairs. It happened all so quickly,” said bus driver, Tomika Richardson.

Richardson has been driving a school bus for more than two decades and after Friday’s traumatic events she does not plan to return to the job.

Friday afternoon along Floy near Leonora St. Louis police said people from an SUV started shooting at a red car. That red car hit the school bus Richardson was driving sending the bus up a hill and into a home.

“I just told the kids run, duck, run, hop, this, that, kids were running everywhere,” Richardson recalled.

Richardson said she is grateful she and the 13 kids who were on the bus were not shot.

She said she is praying for the people who are responsible for the shooting.

Richardson remains in the hospital where she told News 4 she will have to go have rehab.

She wants the students who were on the bus Friday to know she is thinking of them.

“I love them, thank them for cooperating with me,” Richardson said. “It wasn’t an easy process, but I thank God we made it, thank you, Jesus.”

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