One passenger has died after a person with a gun hijacked a transit bus in Los Angeles early Wednesday, prompting a police chase through the city’s downtown, according to local authorities.

The suspect in the incident was taken into custody after an hourlong pursuit, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Two other passengers and the driver were on the bus during the hijacking, the police said. One passenger died after being taken to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

Officers were called to South Los Angeles just before 1 a.m., after reports that a driver had activated the “Call 911” sign on the front of the bus, local news media reported. The bus had been stopped, but officers began pursuing it when it pulled away, believing that a person onboard was armed. They used spike strips to bring the bus to a stop in downtown Los Angeles.

A SWAT team used flash-bang devices before boarding the bus and taking the suspect into custody, police said.

The bus driver and the other passenger onboard were “shaken but uninjured,” the police said. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that it was “grateful” that the driver was unharmed and said it would provide him with support.

The driver, who was not identified, had steered the bus “in as safe as manner as he could” while the police trailed the vehicle for an hour, said Donald Graham, deputy chief for the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I think the world of the operator,” Mr. Graham said at a news conference, praising the driver’s composure.

Footage circulating online early Wednesday appeared to show police officers and police vehicles surrounding a stationary bus, and a person in the front seat of the bus holding up their hands.

Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department’s homicide bureau were investigating and searching the bus for evidence, the department said.