Family of basketball player hit by stray bullet while riding bus in Exposition Park speaks out

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Just hours after winning a championship basketball game for Helen Bernstein High School in Hollywood Friday, 17-year-old Reggie Thimes was shot by a stray bullet while riding a Metro bus through Exposition Park.

The incident occurred at about 10:20 p.m. at 39th Street and St. Andrews Place.

"He heard the shots and everybody ducked and he still got hit and he didn't know. He said, 'Mom somebody got shot,' and then he realized it was him," said La Quanda Parker, Thimes' mom.

Too tired to talk on camera, Thimes says he had no idea he had been hit until the bus pulled up to its next stop near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Western Avenue and another passenger spotted the blood.

"I guess he never thought in his wildest dreams he would get shot. He rides that route all the time," Parker said.

Police say several men got into a fight with a woman and opened fire as she drove off.

One bullet hit the woman's car. She wasn't seriously hurt. Another went through the bus window, hitting the varsity player in his left side.

"I could understand at a bus stop, but on the bus, a stray bullet, it's very scary," Parker said. "That's the worst phone call ever."

Thimes was treated and released from the hospital -- the bullet still lodged in his body.

The straight-A student and his family are counting their blessings that the 17-year-old survived such a close call.

"I'm just happy that we could smile right now and not be crying 'cause he's not here. I'm just glad that he's here and he's smiling and he's doing better," said Tashanna Hester, Thimes' sister.

Thimes will be missing his team's play-off game. No suspect information was immediately known.

The investigation is ongoing. If you have any information about this incident, you're urged to call LAPD at (877) LAPD-24-7.