‘We are all devastated’: Family of slain CATS bus driver demands justice, aunt says
Ethan Rivera moved to North Carolina from New York two years ago, hoping to give his daughter and son a better life, his family said. The 41-year-old managed to do that until a shooting Friday night took him away from his children, family and friends.
Rivera, a Charlotte Area Transit System bus driver, was shot just after 9:30 p.m. in an uptown road-rage incident in the 500 block of West Trade Street, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said. The bus veered off the road after the shots were fired.
He died at a hospital on Saturday. Four passengers were on his bus, but none was injured, CMPD said.
“We are all devastated and very angry,” Rebecca Rivera, his aunt in New York, told the Observer.
Rivera’s death was among three homicides in Charlotte over the weekend, bringing the total to eight for the year.
CMPD hopes to release details about a suspect vehicle in the coming days, police Capt. Joel McNelly said during a news conference Monday.
“We are all heartbroken and demand justice,” Rivera’s aunt said.
Rivera drove for CATS for just over a year and was in a “good place” before his death, according to his aunt.
“He was happy because he was going to be able to retire and provide his children a better life,” she said.
Rebecca Rivera said she will miss her nephew’s “great sense of humor” and “free spirit.”
“He enjoyed life and loved to laugh and have a good time with friends and family,” she said.
The Rivera family had a vacation to Mexico booked for July, Rebecca Rivera said.
A ‘tragic loss’
During a Charlotte City Council Transportation Committee meeting Monday morning, CATS CEO John Lewis called Rivera’s death a “tragic loss” that will be “felt throughout the department for a long time to come.”
“Our words cannot adequately convey the depth of our feelings nor the tragedy of this loss,” Lewis told council members. “But we will continue to move forward in providing mobility options to this community while we wrap our arms around Ethan’s family during this tragic time.”
CATS is working with CMPD on the investigation and has turned over audio and video from the bus, Lewis said.
There’s no indication that any of Rivera’s actions led to him becoming a victim, CMPD Capt. Brad Koch said during the news conference.
Police asked anyone who may have been in the area of the shooting or with other information to call 704-432-8411 (TIPS). Information also can be left anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or charlottecrimestoppers.com/.
The Rivera family is accepting donations through a GoFundMe page.
“Ethan was well-liked and respected and you could not find anyone to say a negative word about him,” Joseph Paglia, general chairperson of Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation (SMART) Local 1715 said in a statement posted on the union’s website Monday.
“He was a fun-loving man who always had a smile on his face,” Paglia said.
CATS has reached out to Rivera’s family and is figuring out how the agency can help them, Lewis said Monday.
“No words can express the depth of this tragedy and the impact that it will have on Ethan, his family, his friends and the CATS family,” he said.
Staff writer Hannah Smoot contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 3:09 PM with the headline "‘We are all devastated’: Family of slain CATS bus driver demands justice, aunt says."
