Slain school bus employee drove Pasco kids for years. His attacker faces murder charge
School employees and the community are mourning the death of a Pasco school bus driver attacked and killed on Friday.
Richard Lenhart, 72, was picking up students at Longfellow Elementary School as classes were letting out at 3:10 p.m. when a man boarded his bus.
While police have not released the name of the attacker, Joshua Dian Davis, 34, was booked into the Franklin County jail on suspicion of second-degree murder shortly after the incident.
Lenhart, who’d been a driver for the Pasco district for six years, was in the school parking lot off 10th Avenue near downtown.
The man reportedly stabbed him in front of a busload of elementary children.
Police have not said why they believe the man got on the bus.
After the attack, Lenhart apparently lost control of the bus, drove over a curb and a sidewalk before hitting some bushes and a tree at the school.
The Kennewick man was rushed to a local hospital where he died. An autopsy is being scheduled, said Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary.
Online records show Lenhart once lived three blocks from where he was attacked. Davis also once lived blocks away from the school.
The assailant stayed at the school until police arrived and cooperated with authorities as he was arrested, Police Capt. Bill Parramore said Friday.
None of the children on the bus were hurt by the attacker or in the crash.
The Pasco School District sent counselors to Longfellow on Monday and offered support over the weekend for students and teachers. And Pasco police stationed some officers near the school Monday.
Administrators met drivers at the transportation building Monday morning and rode along with some on their routes.
On Monday morning, teachers and other school employees showed their support for their nearly 100 bus drivers, waving homemade signs with hearts and words of encouragement as they arrived with kids.
Some in the community took to Facebook to remember Lenhart.
“His church knows he was an amazing man!” said one Facebook post.
Another said, “RIP my friend, you will be missed, my condolences to the family. And the students who witnessed the attack. He was such a nice person!”
Some parents on social media, meanwhile, shared their concerns about putting their children on school buses Monday.
“I can’t be the only one wondering how anyone could feel comfortable putting their child on a bus today,” one person wrote. “How any bus driver feels safe driving today.”
School officials have started discussions about safety, but are focused on getting life back to normal at Longfellow, and at the transportation department said Shane Edinger, the district’s director of public affairs.
“Right now, the focus is on the well-being of all of our employees and students,” he said. “We’ll work on that next piece when the time is appropriate.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 10:57 AM.