Witness: Singing man stabbed Red Line passenger in unprovoked attack

Investigators are reviewing video and talking to witnesses to try to determine what led to a stabbing on the Red Line on Monday morning, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said.

Ramon Montenegro, a spokesman for the sheriff’s Transit Services Bureau, said deputies who arrived on scene have spoken to several witnesses.

A passenger was stabbed about 9:18 a.m. by another rider and rushed to a hospital in grave condition after the train stopped at the Vermont/Santa Monica Station, said Metro spokesman Marc Littman.

No further details were available about the man’s condition, though Montenegro said the injuries appeared serious.

A woman told The Times in a telephone interview that she witnessed the entire incident unfold Monday morning, calling it “quite traumatic.”

The woman, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said she boarded the train around 9:16 a.m. at the Vermont/Sunset station and was standing by the door when she saw the suspect, who appeared to be in his 20s, singing loudly in the car.

He “walks down the aisle to the middle section and was standing there singing really loud rap music,” the woman said. “I particularly noticed because I was watching, thinking, that’s aggressive and loud.”

Then an older man started walking toward the center where the man was singing.

“There was no provocation whatsoever and this kid just stabs the man in the neck,” the woman said.

After that, the train stopped and the assailant ran out the door, she said. The victim was bleeding profusely, she said.

Littman said the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the stabbing and added that “the incidence of serious crimes aboard the Metro rail system is very low, about 0.30 per 100,000 boardings.”

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