Members of The Nation that reside in the Twin Cities have probably been on edge recently when boarding a city bus.  It all stems from a series of attacks on buses in recent weeks, including two killings, and police have stepped up surveillance of mass transit to make riders feel safer. Officials insist the three violent crimes since early March were isolated incidents. 

“I’m not minimizing how serious this is, but I guess my perspective has to be that we provided 74 million rides last year with only a few minor incidents,” said Dave Indrehus, the police chief for Metro Transit. “We’ve got a safe system.” 

The first attack started not unlike what many witnessed in every American city.  A group of rowdy youth took offense to a man trying to calm them down on a bus in Minneapolis.  He was shot in the chest March 8 but survived. A 15-year-old boy is facing attempted murder charges in relation to this incident. 

Four days later, a 60-year-old Minneapolis man died after another passenger struck him in the face for heckling the bus driver.  The man fell backward and hit his head on the pavement delivering the fatal blow.   The assailant, a 47-year-old man, was charged with second-degree murder. 

Finally this Sunday, a 16-year-old boy was shot to death on a bus in downtown St. Paul. Authorities arrested a 17-year-old acquaintance of the boy in connection with his death.  According to the Federal Transit Administration, there were only eight homicides on buses and commuter trains nationwide from 2002 to 2006, with the most in a single year being four in 2003.