As reported by the Associated Press

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP) _ A 10-year-old boy who may have feared being reported for truancy shot a school bus driver in the head, critically wounding her, police said.

Russell Jean Hampton, 40, was shot in the base of the skull Thursday with a small-caliber handgun, police said. Hampton passed away from her injuries on November 15, 1988 several days after the shooting.

The shooting occurred after Ms. Hampton had dropped off students at Dick Dowling Elementary School and was returning to the district’s bus storage barn, police said.

″Apparently this boy had missed the bus earlier in the day and she had seen him riding his bicycle along the road on her way back,″ said police Lt. J.W. Fontenot. ″We don’t know whether he was riding his bike to school or playing hooky.″

Police speculated that Ms. Hampton had told the boy to get on the bus, with the intention of returning him to school and possibly reporting him for truancy.

To help honor Russell Jean Hampton