Train Kills Man in Apparent Suicide

A 20-year-old man died in an apparent suicide when he was hit by a Red Line subway train in Hollywood Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

The incident, which happened shortly after noon at the Hollywood and Highland station, temporarily shut down parts of Los Angeles’ subway system and created delays through the afternoon for trains heading to and from the San Fernando Valley, said Gary Wosk, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The victim’s name was not released, pending notification of his family.

The man “laid himself over the tracks and let the train hit him,” said LAPD Sgt. John Martinez.

“It’s obviously a tragedy,” Wosk said. “Tragic for the person who died, tragic for the people who were at the station at the time, tragic for the operator of the train.”

The incident shut down the Red Line from North Hollywood to downtown Los Angeles for about half an hour. Partial service was restored, with trains sharing a single track for about four hours.

The death was the third fatality to occur on the Red Line since it opened in 1993, Wosk said.

Since the MTA’s Blue Line opened in 1990, 59 people have been killed by Blue Line trains, which run mostly at street level between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The Red Line has more than 120,000 weekday boardings.