A shooting on a Baltimore City bus early Wednesday morning sent a 14-year-old boy to the hospital and raised more concerns about the city’s ongoing problem with bus violence.

A juvenile was shot in the leg on the No. 15 bus at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday after a passenger he had been arguing with re-entered the bus through the back exit and shot him.

“We believe a verbal altercation between two groups escalated, but we don’t know the cause of the altercation. We only know there were some juveniles involved but we don’t know the age of the suspect,” said Jawauna Greene, spokeswoman for the Maryland Transit Administration.

The victim was transported to University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released.

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Greene said the two groups were picked up at separate locations, one at Security Square Mall, the other at a stop on Rolling Road.

The bus was headed toward the city’s Poplar Grove neighborhood when the incident – this year’s first shooting on a city bus — occurred.

Police plan to review the videotape from the bus to help identify the suspect, said Officer Troy Harris, a Baltimore police spokesman.

“As soon as we get it, we will review it to see if there is any information we can use,” he said.

The shooting is the latest in a rash of violence that has plagued city buses this month and prompted MTA police to update safety procedures.

Last week, MTA officials extended the jurisdiction of city police and school police to include buses and vowed that the three agencies would share information daily on fights, drugs, gangs and school closings. MTA also plans to hand over video footage of unruly student passengers to schools.

So far this month on city buses, two groups of teens were kicked off for brawling, a middle-school girl was stabbed in the arm while fighting with other youths, and five men attacked two other male passengers. In the most severe case, nine middle schoolers allegedly beat a female passenger, leaving her with serious injuries. Several of the students charged claim they were not involved and others said the woman and her companion instigated the fight.

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com