DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN – A STARRETT CITY man on Tuesday was sentenced to 15 years in prison for shooting at four Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspectors after they asked him to pay his bus fare, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. Samuel White, 52, of Starrett City, on March 23 pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree attempted murder.
At around 6:15 a.m. on April 18, 2023, at Flatlands and Louisiana avenues, four members of the MTA’s fare enforcement Eagle Team boarded a B82 Select Bus Service bus. White, a passenger, had not paid his fare, and the inspectors asked him to get off and do so at an MTA kiosk.
After the bus left without him, White became irate, telling the inspectors they were ruining his life and making him late for work. He then took a loaded pistol from his backpack and opened fire. One inspector was grazed in the leg while taking cover behind the kiosk. The others took cover behind trees; one bullet grazed one of those trees and a second bullet was lodged in another. Nine shell casings were recovered at the scene.
White was arrested the following day. After being shown surveillance video from the bus, he identified himself and admitted to the shooting, as well as illegally purchasing the gun. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Adam Perlmutter sentenced White to 15 years in prison on Tuesday.
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