{"id":484728,"date":"2026-10-04T10:28:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484728\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T10:28:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:28:22","slug":"loved-ones-gather-at-vigil-to-remember-culver-city-bus-driver-bruce-rodriguez-who-was-shot-and-killed-while-working-in-mar-vista","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484728\/","title":{"rendered":"Loved ones gather at vigil to remember Culver City bus driver Bruce Rodriguez, who was shot and killed while working in Mar Vista"},"content":{"rendered":"

MAR VISTA, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Hundreds gathered on Saturday night to remember a Culver City bus driver who was shot and killed<\/a> following an argument with a passenger.<\/p>\n

Bruce Rodriguez was remembered for his warmth, humor, work ethic and devotion to his two young sons. Mourners placed dozens of candles along the sidewalk at Centinela and Mitchell avenues in Mar Vista, marking the location where Rodriguez was killed while working on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn’t come home on Thursday,\u201d said Rodriguez\u2019s wife, Sandy Sanchez.<\/p>\n

Sanchez is now left to raise the couple\u2019s two young boys without him.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo child should have to lose their father because he went to work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Friends, relatives and colleagues shared stories about Rodriguez during the vigil.<\/p>\n

\u201cBruce was the most kindest, the most hardworking person. Anything you ask him to do, he did,\u201d one participant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a smile that just lit up a room, and he really did. He was just the kindest, funniest person I know,\u201d a coworker said.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez\u2019s sister-in-law, Kathy Sanchez, said he especially loved being a father.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved being a dad\u2026 and just speaking to all of our families, he would send pictures all the time of the kids,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Two witnesses who were on the bus during the shooting told police they believe the passenger was intoxicated when an argument broke out over a missed stop. Police said the passenger then pulled out a gun and opened fire.<\/p>\n

Police identified the suspect as 55-year-old Jose Zayas<\/a>. He was taken into custody on Friday and booked on suspicion of murder. His bail was set at $3 million.<\/p>\n

A suspect was arrested in connection with the deadly shooting of a bus driver in Mar Vista, Los Angeles police announced.<\/p>\n

An attorney representing Rodriguez\u2019s family said the driver had been threatened with a knife just one month before he was killed.<\/p>\n

Other bus drivers attending the vigil called for increased protections, saying violence and abuse have become a frequent part of their jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the physical abuse \u2014 they\u2019re throwing urine, feces, liquids on us, food on us, spitting on us. These are things that drivers every day are faced with,\u201d said Christine Ivey, a transit advocate from Santa Monica.<\/p>\n

The attorney representing Rodriguez\u2019s family said the family will push for changes intended to help bus drivers feel better protected at work.<\/p>\n

The vigil concluded with prayers for Rodriguez\u2019s family and other bus drivers. Mourners then released balloons into the sky in his memory.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe<\/a> has been set up to help support Rodriguez\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAR VISTA, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Hundreds gathered on Saturday night to remember a Culver City bus driver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[189577,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-484728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-189577","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}