First Student bus driver Tiesha “Ty” Donner from Jefferson City, Missouri, was taking elementary school children home on the afternoon of April 6 when suddenly the bus was shot four times. “It was chaotic, hectic, the kids were crying and everybody outside was loud,” she said. She told the kids to get down until they reached a safe place. “I wanted them to get under the seat, it was bullets,” she said. She immediately called 911, and drove to a nearby parking lot where police met the school bus. No one on board the bus was hurt. “She didn’t think anything about it. It’s just how she did it. It was the norm, the level of how she does things,” said Jefferson City Public School Superintendent Larry Linthacum. “She’s awesome, she did a good job, and she saved the lives of those kids. Had she stayed there, or froze, who knows,” said Location Manager Frank Underwood. A First Student bus driver for two years, Ty said her main concern was making sure her students didn’t get hurt. The day after the incident, although she was shaken up, she said she knew she had to go to work. “[The gunshots] weren’t for us. We were innocent bystanders. So let me show (the kids) I can go to work. I can go to work, you all can go to school. We’re gonna be okay,” said Ty.
First Student bus driver Ty Donner is honored at the Jefferson City Public School Board Meeting.