Bus rider gets upset at fellow passenger for being impolite, soon shoots him to death, authorities say. Jury returns verdict.

Baltimore police said officers responded to the unit block of South Eutaw Street for a report of a shooting around 2 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2024.

Police said officers located an unidentified male suffering from apparent gunshot wounds, and medics transported the victim to an area hospital where he died.

'I'm not going to let you live.'

Days later, detectives arrested 61-year-old James Richburg of Baltimore in connection with the fatal shooting of 30-year-old William Womack on a bus in the unit block of South Eutaw Street after a dispute, police said.

Richburg was taken to the Central Booking Intake Facility where he was charged with first-degree murder, police said.

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It wasn't Richburg's first go-round with the law, WMAR-TV reported, adding that online court records indicate he was sentenced to five years in 2021 for firearms possession and was convicted in connection with a 1996 robbery.

As for last year's case, charging documents indicate Womack bumped into Richburg on the bus without apologizing, the station said, which led to an argument between the pair.

Police said Womack got back on the bus as the argument continued, after which Richburg opened fire, WMAR said.

Richburg fled, and Womack collapsed, the station said, adding that soon witnesses came forward, and police identified Richburg as the shooter.

WMAR reported that a jury last week found Richburg guilty of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

But while prosecutors said Womack was shot in cold blood, Richburg said it was self-defense, WBAL-TV reported.

During Thursday's closing arguments, prosecutors told the jury, "The defendant did kill William Womack with a firearm. He fired a gun from near-point-blank range into Mr. Womack's chest," WBAL said.

The assistant state's attorney said MTA transit bus surveillance video clearly shows Womack bending down to pick up a bottle he dropped and then bumping into Richburg and not saying "excuse me" or apologizing, WBAL reported.

The pair exchanged words, Richburg got off the bus, then got back on, WBAL said, adding that charging documents indicate Womack was annoying Richburg before Richburg said, "I'm not going to let you live."

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But Richburg's defense claimed that even if Richburg said those words, he was concerned about his safety, WBAL said.

"Mr. Womack, he has committed a battery under the laws of the state of Maryland. Mr. Womack continues to harangue and harass Mr. Richburg. Mr. Richburg's fight or flight instinct was already heightened because he was on the bus," the defense argued, according to WBAL.

The defense claimed the shooting was in self-defense, WBAL said: "It is Mr. Richburg trying to warn Mr. Womack off. It is in response [to] Mr. Womack continuing to threaten and harangue Mr. Richburg. In the moment, Mr. Richburg understood Mr. Womack coming to harm him."

However, WBAL added that Womack didn't have a weapon.

Richburg's sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 10, WBAL said, adding that he could receive up to 75 years in prison.

Mark Crosby — a pro-life Baltimore resident who was brutally beaten up in 2023 in front of a Planned Parenthood in the city, only for the culprit to walk away without any jail time — told Blaze News that the killing of Womack and how it started is no surprise to him given where it took place.

"There have been so many instances of that," Crosby told Blaze News before adding that Baltimore recently was ranked the third-most dangerous city in the United States.

"Houses are boarded up, there's graffiti on buildings, trash everywhere," Crosby noted, adding that "all I can do is shake my head and say it's business as usual."

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