Bullet hits school bus carrying Camden preschoolers

A bullet struck a school bus carrying Camden preschoolers Thursday afternoon. Credit: Getty Images A bullet struck a school bus carrying Camden preschoolers Thursday afternoon.
Credit: Getty Images

A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a man who fired a shotgun up to 14 times in Camden’s Centerville neighborhood Thursday afternoon, striking a school bus with one of the blasts.

The school bus was carrying more than two dozen preschool students at Camden’s Center for Family Services Head Start School when a bullet went though one of its windows, the Courier-Post reports. One child sustained a burn-like injury in the incident, but it’s not clear whether the youngster was struck by a bullet fragment or a piece of debris.

The man was walking on Phillips Street around 3 p.m. when he fired the shotgun toward the Branch Village housing project in what is believed to be a gang- or drug-related shooting.

Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson described the suspect as “public enemy No. 1” in announcing the $20,000 reward offered by his department for information leading to the man’s arrest.