Sacramento Man Sentenced to Life for Killing Woman on Greyhound Bus in Oroville

A Northern California judge sentenced a 23-year-old Sacramento man to life in prison after he opened fire on a Greyhound bus in Oroville two years ago, killing one woman and wounded four others, including an 11-year-old and a pregnant woman.

Butte Superior Court Judge Corie J. Caraway imposed the sentence on Friday after a jury in late April convicted Asaahdi Elijah Coleman of killing 43-year-old Karen Dalton while the Los Angeles-bound bus was parked at an Oroville gas station on the night of February 2, 2022.

Dalton, a Seattle resident, was traveling with her 14-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter when Coleman shot them twice, including once in the face.

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Dalton’s relatives informed The Sacramento Bee days after the murder that she was shot numerous times while trying to protect her children. She and her two children boarded a Greyhound bus in Spokane, Washington, on their route to visit Dalton’s eldest son in New Mexico before continuing on to Alabama. Her family was relocating, and they felt it would be more cost-effective to travel by bus.

Three other persons were shot in the unusual attack, which called into doubt the then-21-year-old’s mental competency. He had previously been a ward of Sacramento Juvenile Court.

He was also convicted of four counts of attempted murder — for shooting Dalton’s daughter, a 25-year-old pregnant lady, a 32-year-old guy, and a 38-year-old man — as well as a series of enhancements for allegedly using a gun in the attack.

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Coleman was from Sacramento, although there are few public records of his stay there. He also led what law enforcement officials described as a “transient lifestyle” in California.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea stated at the time that the victims on the bus described Coleman as appearing strange and “paranoid” since he boarded in Redding. He showed passengers a 9mm handgun that he was carrying in a little backpack.

Coleman, who was sitting in the back of the bus, allegedly pushed forward, pulled out a 9mm handgun, displayed it at passengers, and began arguing with someone he said was an undercover cop. Honea stated in the hours following the incident that a “significant confrontation” ensued from then, with Coleman firing “somewhere north of 10 shots.”

Coleman ran after opening fire inside the bus, which was parked near an AM/PM convenience shop. Deputies, police, and other law enforcement agents apprehended him at a neighboring Walmart, where he allegedly battled with a man and removed his clothes.

According to a statement from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office, Dalton’s daughter addressed the court via video conference during the sentencing phase, telling the judge that she continues to have nightmares about Coleman’s attack.

A victim’s advocate presented a statement from another victim, Rose Whitley, who is now 27. Prosecutors claim she described “her constant pain from shrapnel that lodged in her tailbone from the shooting” and how her child was born prematurely.

Bobby Farber, 34, “spoke from his wheelchair in the courtroom,” according to the District Attorney’s Office. “He noted he was now permanently paralyzed as a result of the shooting and in constant pain.”

Chief Deputy District Attorney Mark Murphy drew a straight relationship between Farber’s “courage” and Coleman’s “cowardice,” citing a prosecution expert who decided Coleman had “anti-social personality disorder” and other behavior that was “deeply defective and dangerous.” Murphy stated that the worst sentence was recommended “to protect the public.”

At the end of the sentencing phase, Caraway sentenced Coleman to 74 years, 8 months to life in prison, “noting his previous crimes involving violence and guns both as a juvenile and adult in the Bay Area and Sacramento,” according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Coleman, however, might be eligible for parole as early as 2049, when he would be 48, according to prosecutors, citing California’s Youthful Offender Parole legislation.

Coleman remains in detention at Butte County Jail pending his admission to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.