Woman arrested in attack on Las Vegas-Fresno Greyhound bus

Tersa Ann Andrade Madrigal (Tulare County Sheriff’s Office)

Passengers jumped in to help Monday afternoon after a woman stabbed a mother and threatened to kill a young girl on a Greyhound bus traveling from Las Vegas to Fresno, authorities in California said.

The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said 58-year-old Teresa Ann Andrade Madrigal attacked fellow passengers on U.S. Highway 99, about 60 miles north of Bakersfield, stabbing five people and cutting herself.

A spokeswoman for Greyhound said 13 people were on the bus. The uninjured passengers were picked up by another bus and taken to Fresno.

Nathan Wanhala was sitting nearby when Madrigal allegedly grabbed the 3-year-old girl and threatened to kill her with a knife, he told deputies in Tulare County, in California’s Central Valley. Madrigal, who Wanhala said boarded the bus in Bakersfield, also stabbed the girl’s mother, he said at a news conference.

The driver stopped the bus and helped Wanhala and other passengers intervene.

“I just wanted her to stop,” Wanhala said. “I didn’t want her to hurt anybody.”

He was stabbed and slightly injured during the altercation, along with the girl’s mother and two other people who helped hold the woman down until police arrived. The sheriff’s office said in a news release that two adults — believed to be the attacker and the child’s mother — were hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening. Two others were treated for minor injuries at the scene. The 3-year-old girl also suffered minor injuries, it said.

Wanhala said other passengers helped console the young girl and put pressure on her mother’s wound while they waited for medical help.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said Wanhala was “one true hero out of many,” who tried to help the mother and child. Boudreaux also credited medical staff and California Highway Patrol, who performed emergency first aid at the scene.

Wanhala deflected the praise.

“I don’t consider myself a hero, but if I was in the same predicament I wish and I hope that someone would help me, too,” he said.

“I’m just thankful that everyone’s OK, including (Madrigal),” Wanhala said. “I’m glad she’s OK.”

He said that Madrigal told passengers that her son was killed by police and that she thought the child on the bus should be killed.

Madrigal was booked into the Tulare County Jail on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and child endangerment. Her bail was set at $500,000.

Greyhound said it was cooperating with police and was conducting its own investigation into the incident.

Boudreaux said the sheriff’s office would help Wanhala get home to Santa Cruz.

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Contact Max Michor at 702-383-0365 or mmichor@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter.