KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City man is facing 13 felony charges Friday night relating to the attempted hijacking of a metro bus and attempted carjacking of others.
Police say James M. Jackson was high on PCP June 30 when the incidents occurred.
Prosecutors say Jackson is a prior and persistent offender with at least four drug, robbery and burglary convictions under his belt.
Witnesses FOX 4 spoke with Friday say this incident takes the cake.
Jackson could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted of on all 13 counts.
Last week, FOX 4 gave you an exclusive look at the terrifying surveillance video.
Pictured in a mug shot, taken the night of June 30, is 28-year old James M. Jackson.
Prosecutors say Jackson just hours earlier, caught on surveillance video, can be seen walking up to a metro bus carrying nine people.
Police say high on PCP and carrying a gun, Jackson tried to fight his way in.
“’I’ll kill everyone here. Let me on this.’ It was just so many vulgar words and a lot of them were relating to him wanting to kill someone,” Naudia Fields said Jackson was yelling at the driver.
Fields was on that bus with her three small children.
“It was probably a miracle and God on our side that nobody actually got hurt. Especially in everybody trying to run and take cover in this small spot on the back on the bus and you’ve got people stepping over people. You know kids are laying under people and have been thrown down,” Fields said.
Unable to get in, Jackson ventures to the middle of the street where he attempted to carjack several people.
“He jumped in front of my truck and told me to get out of my truck because he was going to take it,” said Andre Phillips, who was one of the attempted carjacking victims.
“I looked at him like he was crazy. You know any other person probably would have killed him,” Phillips said.
Prosecutors say Jackson’s rampage began even before all of this.
Moments before he’s seen approaching the bus, court documents say Jackson was in the backseat of a car where he held a gun to a women’s head and pulled the trigger, the gun failed to fire.
“To me it seems like he needs some serious help,” Phillips said.
“It seemed like a lifetime when it was happening and just being able to see how quickly everything played out, it just, it makes it hard to understand why one would want to use those types of drugs,” Fields said.
Jackson is charged with 13 felony counts including intent to hijack with a weapon, assault, robbery and possession of drugs.
He remains in jail on a $150,000 bond.
