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NYPD: Ex-Con Confesses To Bus Driver Murder

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Dec 3, 2008 6:09 am US/Eastern

NYPD: Ex-Con Confesses To Bus Driver Murder

Suspect Horace Moore, 20, Of Brooklyn Charged In Killing

Victim's Son Speaks To CBS 2 HD About Horrible Incident

Reporting
Sean Hennessey

BROOKLYN (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 2: New York City police officers say bus driver Edwin Thomas was stabbed to death by Horace Moore over a $2 transfer slip on Dec. 1, 2008. The incident occurred in front of horrified passengers.
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Click to enlarge 2 of 2: Edwin Thomas (file)
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He's the first alleged killer of a New York City bus driver in nearly 30 years. Police say Horace Moore confessed to the stabbing death of a longtime city employee -- all over a $2 fare.

The suspect's mother told CBS 2 HD off camera Tuesday night that she sent her son out for an errand on Monday and put $10 in his pocket. That was the last she heard from him until learning Tuesday that he's facing a murder rap.

Moore, 20, hid his face as he was paraded before the cameras after being charged for the murder of 46-year-old Edwin Thomas.

"I feel like I'm in a dream," said Jeffrey Thomas, one of the slain bus driver's two sons. "I don't believe it's true. It's hard."

Jeffrey Thomas told CBS 2 HD's John Slattery his dad loved being a bus driver and that the two spoke nearly every day.

"My dad, he was the best. We used to talk about everything, cars ...we'd laugh together, cry together, everything," he said.

But the life of this father of two was snatched away when police say he was stabbed in the chest by Moore, a passenger who didn't pay his bus fare, then demanded a transfer.

"A lot of people they don't want to pay their fare and they ask for a transfer and when you don't give it to them, they get upset," MTA bus driver Atiya Williams said.

On Tuesday night co-workers and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil at the very spot where Edwin Thomas was attacked.

"We're feeling this right now," bus driver Maxine Wheatle said. "It's a terrible tragedy."

They released balloons into the air, one for each year of service Thomas gave driving a bus, a livelihood that cost him everything and left this teen without his dad.

"This is just hard. I used to always tell him, 'Dad, be careful. I love you,'" Jeffrey Thomas said.

Moore's mother acknowledged her son has been in trouble with the law before and when CBS 2 HD asked several times if he had a violent temper, she wouldn't answer, saying instead she wanted to apologize to Thomas' family.

"He was a nice guy, trying to provide for his family. Terrible what happened," said Alvin Jones, another driver.

The death of Edwin Thomas is the first killing of a New York City bus driver since 1981 when a driver was shot to death by a fare-beater.

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