A 50-year-old Milwaukee man is facing multiple felony charges after allegedly chasing two juveniles off a city bus and firing a handgun at them as they ran, according to a criminal complaint. No one was hit, but the confrontation near North 12th and West Burleigh streets has reignited concerns about violence on Milwaukee County Transit System buses.
A Fare-Jump and a Commotion Preceded the Shots
Authorities arrested Ive James Adams on Monday in connection with the shooting and a separate narcotics charge, according to WISN. The complaint says two juveniles boarded an MCTS bus at the Riverside High School stop, and Adams later got on the already-full bus at the Richards Street stop without paying the fare. As the bus passed North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, a commotion broke out in the back, with children on board yelling for someone to get off, per the station's report.
The complaint alleges Adams got off at the North 12th Street stop and pursued the two juveniles. He allegedly drew a handgun and fired as they ran away, according to the station. ShotSpotter logged two rounds at about 3:55 p.m. near 1125 W. Burleigh St. No one was reported injured, and the people targeted have not been identified, WISN noted.
Chase Ends With Gun Tossed in a Field
Transit security guards kept watch from a distance until police arrived, according to the report. Officers encountered Adams near North 16th and West Hadley streets with a large black coat. He ran when they approached and did not stop when ordered, the report says. During the pursuit, officers saw him discard a black 9 mm pistol in a field at 2969 N. 20th St.; they arrested him in a rear alley.
Investigators recovered a spent casing outside 3105 N. 11th St. and said it matched an unfired cartridge in the pistol's magazine, WISN reported. The complaint also says a search of Adams found a clear plastic bag with eight smaller bags of a white, rock-like substance that tested positive for cocaine, as well as a digital scale in his jacket pocket.
Charges and Prior Record
Adams is charged with first-degree recklessly endangering safety, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession with intent to deliver cocaine, the station's report states. Court records show he has a prior felony conviction for strangulation and suffocation from 2017, the article notes. The investigation remains ongoing.
A Transit System Still Grappling With Rider Safety
This is not the first time gunfire has erupted around an MCTS bus. In August 2023, a shooting near North 6th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue, followed five days later by a shooting aboard a bus near West Capitol Drive and North Sherman Boulevard, reignited a countywide debate over rider and driver security, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. At the time, MCTS held a $1.5 million contract with private security firm Allied Universal, whose guards could remove passengers but lacked police powers to make arrests, the paper reported.
That debate pushed the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors to create a Transit Security & Safety Task Force during the 2023 budget cycle, with a county committee later approving a resolution recommending the county hire 51 of its own transit rangers, according to FOX6 News. MCTS estimated that in-house security plan would cost $3.5 million annually, the outlet reported.
By late 2024, the county executive's proposed budget called for MCTS to hire 19 county-trained public safety officers, with the transit system expected to begin deploying its own directly employed security personnel in 2025, according to Urban Milwaukee. MCTS described the new program as a pilot and said it would not stop using Allied Universal personnel altogether, the outlet noted. Earlier this year, MCTS announced it had launched a Sheriff's Transit Security Pilot Program placing plainclothes sheriff's deputies on targeted bus routes, a measure set to run through 2026 or until its dedicated funding runs out, according to the Milwaukee Courier. The transit system also said assaults on bus operators had dropped 50 percent since its in-house Public Safety Officer program began in 2024, per that report.
What MCTS says has changed
In the same Milwaukee Courier report, MCTS also said apprehension and conviction of offenders increased after its Public Safety Officer program began in 2024. The report did not give figures for those increases, according to the Milwaukee Courier.
