Teen protects others on bus from knife-wielding 10-year-old

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Johnson County Deputies took a 10-year-old boy into custody on Thursday after they say he pulled out a knife on a school bus.

A 16-year-old Rio Vista High School student found herself confronting the danger directly to protect others on that bus.

Alexis Landry may only be 16 years old but is wise beyond her years. She found herself playing the role of protector and used her body to shield her classmates from a boy with a knife.        

“He made a hand gesture towards someone with the knife in his hand,” she recalled. “And he was putting it up to a little boy’s throat.”

The superintendent says there were about 20 kids on board the bus. Landry was the oldest. The youngest passenger was in Pre-K.

“They were all in complete panic,” she said. “Some of them were crying and screaming they wanted to go home.”

The bus driver pulled over near a bridge on County Road 1109 to call 911. Three of the older kids jumped out the rear emergency exit, and the boy with the knife followed. According to Landry, the boy suddenly reappeared from the front door.

“When I turned around, he put his right arm across my chest,” Landry said. “And with his left hand, he put his knife to my throat.”

Landry says her only concern was for the other kids. She told the other students she wouldn’t let the boy hurt them.

The boy eventually let Landry go and was restrained by another boy until Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived.

Her dad, Michael Landry, found out about the terrifying ride through cryptic text messages from his daughter. When he asked her why she was later for first period, she said it was complicated. He told her she better have a good excuse then.

But now that Landry has returned home, Dad has calmed down a bit.

“I was mixed emotions. One side of me wanted to kick her butt because she put herself in harm’s way,” he said. “The other side of me was just so proud because nowadays even adults when something bad happens, they run the other way.”

The school superintendent says the 10-year-old boy was taken to taken into custody by deputies. He could not say if the child has had any disciplinary problems in the past or disclose what consequences the boy could face. There were no cameras on the bus.