A verbal altercation between two men turned violent on a Metro Transit bus in north Minneapolis late Saturday morning, police said.

A man was shot by an unknown suspect who fled the scene near 17th Avenue and Penn Avenue N., said Metro Transit officials. Passengers were evacuated and the victim was taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale. His condition was not released.

Minneapolis police were dispatched to the scene around 11 a.m., where witnesses described an argument between the two men before the shooting. Both Minneapolis and Metro Transit police were looking for the suspect.

No other passengers on the southbound route No. 19 bus were injured. Another bus arrived to take them to their final destinations.

Violence is not new to Route 19, which links Brooklyn Center and parts of Minneapolis. In July, 38-year-old Andrew Billingsley Jr. was fatally shot after getting in an argument with a juvenile. Billingsley was shot on the street as he fled the bus near 26th and Penn Avenues N.

And in 2011, six No. 19 buses were attacked with large rocks while traveling a two-block stretch of Penn between 36th and Dowling Avenues N., resulting in several broken windshields.

LIZ SAWYER