Teen who was shot on Metro bus says he's lucky to be alive

LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) -- A local high school basketball player who was shot in the back while riding a Metro bus says he is lucky to be alive.

Reggie Thimes, 17, was hit by a stray bullet while riding a Metro bus through Exposition Park Friday at about 10:20 p.m. The varsity basketball player at Helen Bernstein High School in Hollywood was shot just hours after winning a championship game.

He heard the gunshots while on the bus, but 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.

"Thinking to myself like, I'm not gonna go out on no bus. Not like this at least, so I started applying pressure. I was listening to all the people. They were all giving me advice," Thimes 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 straight-A student on his left side.

"I take the route all the time, and certain times I have taken it that late and nothing happened," Thimes said. "This time, I guess, it was just the wrong place at the wrong time."

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

The teen says he's just grateful he survived.

"I'm alive," he said.