Woman charged in deadly shooting of SEPTA bus driver may be linked other incidents on SEPTA property: source

PHILADELPHIA - A woman accused of fatally shooting a SEPTA bus driver may be the same person who brandished a gun on a subway platform weeks earlier, sources tell FOX 29.

Zhontay Capers, 21, was charged in the shooting death of veteran SEPTA bus driver Bernard Gribbin last Thursday morning at Germantown and Abbottsford avenues.

Capers was taken into custody hours after police say she shot Gribbin six times from outside and inside the bus, as captured by nearby security cameras. 

FOX 29's Steve Keeley reports through sources that police believe Capers could be the same person who was seen brandishing a gun at Erie Station on Oct. 10.

SEPTA surveillance stills obtained by FOX 29's Steve Keeley show a person matching Capers description wielding a 9mm handgun inside the subway station. 

"The investigation produced a picture of a woman who, in fact, had a gun in her hands bearing the resemblance of the offender in the homicide and that's something we're looking into now," SEPTA Police Chief Chuck Lawson said. "Same description down to the Crocs, same general description, braids in her hair, general appearance, weight, height." 

The suspect was gone before police arrived that morning, but investigators found a 9mm bullet near the cashier's booth on the mezzanine level.  Sources say the person in the video is seen boarding a train before police arrived and exiting at Allegheny Station. 

"We found a bullet that was either dropped or ejected from a handgun, we don't know, we recovered that as evidence, we're following up with Philadelphia Police Department and coordinating the value of that evidence for their case as well," Lawson said. 

Sources tell FOX 29 that a Route 60 bus driver reported a passenger riding with a handgun held between her legs. The rider, who sources believe is also Capers, got off the bus at Front Street and Allegheny Avenue. 

"We're combing through reports from our bus operators involving any disturbances involving somebody of that description, so we're combing through that evidence now to see if there's anything else involving this woman," Lawson said.

Capers had two previous violent altercations as a juvenile on SEPTA property, according to Lawson. 

"We had contact with her in the past," Lawson said. "It involved violence in terms of an assault and those are things we're going to look at going forward to see if there's anything we missed." 

Caper's family extended their condolences to the Gribbin family in a statement shared days after the homicide. The statement further discussed Zhontay's declining mental health that described the death of her grandmother as a "breaking point" that they said caused Zhontay to isolate herself from the family.

The statement went on to say that Zhontay did not meet the requirements for involuntary hospitalization, and the family hadn't heard from her until after news of the deadly shooting of Bernard Gribbin. 

"As a family we feel that the mental health system has failed [Zhontay] and many others," the Capers family wrote. "So many people are homeless, on the streets, or in prison because the system is rigged against helping those who can not help themselves. Our hope is that [Zhontay] gets the mental health support she truly needs once Justice is fully served."