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OAKLAND, Calif. – Prosecutors will seek a life sentence against a parolee for murder and attempted murder in the unintentional bombing of two young women in a subway station, said Wednesday a prosecutor from Northern California. Alameda County District Attorney, Nancy O'Malley, said the authorities continue to investigate the racial motivation of John Cowell, 27, when he told police killed Nia Wilson, 18, and her sister, Letifah Wilson, 26 years old.
He is white.
"Sitting with the family, it's the worst time of their lives, and my heart is broken for them and for our community in general," she said afterwards. 39; hearing. "It rocked the community, it shook us all."
Cowell did not plead during a brief hearing and his indictment was postponed until next month. The hearing room was filled with about two dozen members of Wilson's family. A woman cried after the end of the hearing.
The young woman's death on Sunday provoked a vigil that then swelled into a crowd of about a thousand who walked into downtown Oakland across the San Francisco Bay [19659006] but Vicki court artist Ellen Behringer could see it. He dropped his eyes for most hearings, she said and at one point he had a slight smile. Cowell had a tattoo on her chest and a bandage on her forehead, she said.
Cowell's lawyer, George Arroyo, escaped the back door after the hearing and did not respond immediately to a request for comment. arrested Monday night in a Bay Area Rapid Transit train a dozen kilometers from the MacArthur station where women were attacked.
Authorities did not reveal the motive for the attack but Cowell's family told KRON-TV statement that he suffered from mental illness "most of his life. " Nia's father, Ansar Muhammad, said Wednesday that he thought that mental illness was "an excuse" and that he felt his daughters were being attacked because they were black.
"I think it's an excuse, I hate to say that, but, you know, why would you choose two black girls?" Muhammad told the courthouse before Cowell's appearance.
Muhammad stated that Nia was going to graduate "with the highest honors" from the Dewey Academy in December and that she was considering joining the army
Records indicate that Cowell recently served two years for second-degree robbery and was also sentenced for battery, being under the influence of a controlled substance and assault with a deadly weapon, reported the ################################################################################ East Bay Times. 19659003] Cowell was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, the family said.
He was released from Atascadero State Mental Hospital in May, but "there was no room for him." "The family said, adding that" the system failed in this case. "
" We had to obtain a restraining order at the same time for our own protection. He lived on the street without the proper treatment, "the family id." This is in no way an excuse for this foolish and vicious attack. "
Cowell's mother, Anne Cowell, is serving a three-year sentence for setting fire to a transitional shelter in Santa Rosa, said Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Vicky Waters , spokesman for the Corrections and Rehabilitation Department of California, said that Cowell was under active surveillance and had no arrest warrant.
She stated that the agency conducts review and cooperates with BART and local police.
Cowell's family said she was "heartbroken" and mourning the family of victims.
"This horrible tragedy "It should never have happened," the statement said. The death of an SDF attacked in a subway station on the eve of Nia Wilson's death was fatally stabbed on a transfer platform.
The BART police released Tuesday night footage of a man who allegedly beat Don Stevens, 7, at the Bay Fair station on Saturday
The suspect hit Stevens on the side of his head with a closed fist. Stevens fell and hit his head and died at the hospital Sunday, they said.
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Rodriguez reported from San Francisco.
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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http: //www.sfgate .com
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