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On Sunday night, Nia Wilson was walking on the subway platform with her sisters when a man stabbed her in an unprovoked attack, according to Bay Area Rapid Transit officials. Nia's sister, Lahtifa, was also stabbed and seriously injured.
"During my 30 years of police experience, it was probably one of the most brutal attacks I've seen," said Carlos Rojas, chief of the police. video in a press conference Monday.
Police identified the suspect as John Cowell, 27, who was arrested on Monday, according to BART police.
Rojas described Cowell as a violent criminal, saying he was currently on parole after leaving the California prison system four months ago. The surveillance video showed not only the stabbing on the platform, but the attacker taking off his clothes in the parking structure as he fled, police said.
BART officers patrolled at MacArthur Station Sunday night when the two sisters were stabbed around 9:36 am They rendered help to both victims, according to a BART press release.
As research intensified for Cowell in the hours following the attack, the BART police received a call Monday night that a passenger had spotted the suspect in the area. 39, one of the trains, said Rojas. Officers were able to take Cowell into custody.
He was not armed when he was detained, Rojas said.
"We are very happy that less than 24 hours we were able to detain this suspect," Rojas said.
It is not known if Cowell has a lawyer. Rojas said that he had not yet been charged.
On Monday night, protesters held a vigil for Wilson, walking down a street in downtown Oakland.
"The senseless and violent stabbing of two young women on a BART train platform last night shook our community," said Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland, in a statement. was racially motivated or that the suspect was affiliated with hate groups, the fact that his victims are both young African American women causes deep pain and palpable fear among all those who recognize that our country still suffers from hate. a tragic and deeply racist racism in history, "she said.
Cowell is white, but the police say that no motive has been established. Cowell has not been linked to any right-wing group or radical white supremacy, but the police are investigating every angle because he "has a violent past," Rojas said.
Discussing the reason he is so far unknown, Wilson's godfather, Daryle Allums, said, "We are asking the African-American community to withdraw now."
Attacks on the public transport system
Wilson's stab wounds were the third death after other attacks in recent days on the BART system, which serves as a weapon. backbone to public transportation in the Bay Area.
Rojas discussed the other two incidents. In each case, the victim died after an assault in a BART station.
On Saturday morning, a 47-year-old man was found injured on the platform of the Bay Fair Station, located in San Leandro, south of Oakland.
He was declared a brain dead in the hospital. The victim, identified as Don Stevens, a passenger, was punched on the side of the head by an unidentified suspect, according to BART surveillance videos. After being hit, Stevens fell on the cement floor on the platform. Authorities are looking for a suspect.
On Wednesday, a 51-year-old man was assaulted at Pleasant Hill Station in Walnut Creek. The victim, identified as Gerald Bisbee, suffered a slight bloody lip and a small cut on the back of his knee, and went to the hospital the next day because he was injured. he said that he was not feeling well. The man went to the hospital on Thursday and was released later. On Friday, he was found dead in bed.
An autopsy revealed that the cause of death came from an infection caused by a small cut on Bisbee's knee, according to BART. The suspect in this case is in custody, according to BART.
CNN's Braden Walker and Emily Smith contributed to this report.
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