Mental evaluation ordered for man accused of hijacking Greyhound bus

A mental evaluation is being ordered for a man accused of threatening passengers with a knife aboard a Greyhound bus. He is accused of allegedly attacking the driver, grabbing the steering wheel, and causing a crash.

It all happened on Northbound I-25 near Fountain, stopping traffic and creating quite a scene.

The chaos ended when a passer-by, a Fort Carson soldier, pulled over and held the suspect at gunpoint until officers arrived.

Tuesday, that suspect, Edmundo Arellanes-Audelo, was in court for a preliminary hearing, but he’ll have to wait to hear whether he will stand trial.

For 27 people making their way to Denver on a Greyhound, it was the ride from hell.

According to court papers, Edmundo Arellanes-Audelo yelled out that someone had kidnaped him and begun threatening passengers with a knife — causing the crash.

“He was able to get access to the secure area where the bus driver was located. He was trying to attack the bus driver,” said Lisa Schneider, a Media Relations Officer for Fountain Police.

It wasn’t long after that a man, who was simply driving by, stopped to help. Nathaniel Barret-Frieson, a soldier at Fort Carson, was armed.

“He ended up slipping through one of the broken windows on the bus and he came out and that’s when I saw he had the knife and I told him to drop the knife and move over by some bushes to get some good distance between me and him,” Barret-Frieson said.

According to court papers, Arellanes-Audelo has a different story. He told police, passengers showed him a video of someone killing his family — before trying to kill him with a knife.

Arellanes-Audelo is now charged with assault, reckless endangerment, felony menacing, and more. He won’t face those charges though, because his defense attorney requested a competency hearing.

If he’s found unstable, he won’t stand trial until he’s found competent by doctors at the state mental hospital in Pueblo.

He’s due in court on October 30th.