MONTVALE—What were they thinking?
Nobody was injured, though many were frightened after two boys from Monsey, 14 and 16, accosted fellow passengers on a commuter bus — with a fake gun and exploding fireworks — the night of Thursday, Dec. 16.
Police Chief Joseph Sanfilippo said officers stopped the Monsey Trails bus on Chestnut Ridge Road around 10 p.m. after fielding the first of several calls saying one of the brothers pointed a pistol at fellow passengers.
The boys threw lighted fireworks at passengers, Sanfilippo said.
He said fellow officers from Hillsdale, Park Ridge, River Vale, Upper Saddle River, and Woodcliff Lake responded to the scene, near Summit Avenue, as did a SWAT officer from his department.
Montvale police removed all of the passengers from the bus and searched each for weapons, he said.
The suspects, identified by passengers, were wearing hooded sweatshirts and windbreaker-type coats, the chief said. He added, “One of the brothers was found to be in possession of a black BB replica of a Glock 9mm pistol and fireworks.”
Delinquency complaints were signed against both boys, who then were sent to the Bergen County Juvenile Detention Center in Teterboro to await an initial hearing before a Superior Court judge in Hackensack, according to the chief.
Monsey Trails has lines to and from Rockland County, New York City, Lakewood, and Baltimore. The company says online that passengers aged 10–14 may travel unaccompanied as long as the passenger’s trip will begin and end on the same schedule; at the point of destination an adult must wait for the passenger.
The chief thanked all agencies that participated in the response, including the Ramapo Police Department, which handled traffic on the New York side of the border.