The victim, Jonathan Pettigrew, died after a dispute aboard a Bx36 bus.
BRONX, N.Y. — Police searched Tuesday for a gunman accused of killing a passenger on a Bronx MTA bus after an argument over a loud cellphone call.
Jonathan Pettigrew, 41, was riding a Bx36 bus Monday when police said he told another passenger to stop yelling on his phone. The exchange turned violent near White Plains Road and East Tremont Avenue, where Pettigrew was shot in the abdomen shortly before 3 p.m.
Emergency workers took Pettigrew to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi, where he was pronounced dead. Police said the shooter ran from the bus after firing. Investigators had not released the suspect’s name by Tuesday afternoon, and no arrest had been reported.
The shooting left the bus at the intersection for hours while police and MTA officials investigated. Detectives worked to determine the full sequence of events, including where the argument began, how many people were aboard and whether the suspect was captured on bus or street cameras.
Authorities said the known motive was tied to the cellphone dispute, but several key facts remained unclear. Police had not said whether Pettigrew spoke with the gunman before the phone complaint, whether the suspect boarded alone or whether any passengers tried to intervene after the shot was fired.
The area around East Tremont Avenue is a busy Bronx corridor with buses, stores and steady pedestrian traffic. Witnesses reported seeing a large police response after the shooting. One man told CBS New York that the scene was filled with police cars and that traffic was stopped in both directions.
The killing added a new homicide case to the NYPD’s transit-related investigations. Unlike a platform or subway station shooting, this case unfolded inside a city bus, giving detectives a confined scene but also a moving route to review. The MTA and police remained part of the response.
Police were expected to keep reviewing video and speaking with passengers and witnesses as they searched for the gunman. The next major step in the case would be an arrest or the release of additional suspect information.
Author note: Last updated June 9, 2026.