Manhunt underway for suspect accused in fatal stabbing on train platform

FAN Editor

Last Updated Jul 23, 2018 5:49 PM EDT

A manhunt is underway for a suspect accused of fatally stabbing an 18-year-old woman and wounding her sister as they stepped off a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train in Oakland, California, late Sunday. John Lee Cowell, 27, was identified by police as the lone suspect Monday after authorities reviewed footage from surveillance cameras at the scene.

BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas Rojas said police have not yet determined a motive for attack. He said there was no evidence suggesting the attack was racially motivated, but investigators haven’t ruled it out, the Associated Press reports.

Police said the suspect was riding in the same car as the victims Sunday and attacked them soon after they exited onto the MacArthur platform. Investigators have recovered evidence at the scene.

Cowell, who is white, stands 5 foot, 8 inches tall and weighs 190 pounds, police said. His hair was described as short and dark and he wears a cropped beard and mustache. Authorities said Cowell should be considered dangerous and urged the public to call police if they see him.

26167431-308785682964427-8939836669851131687-n.jpg

This undated Facebook photo shows Nia Wilson. 

Facebook

Rojas called Cowell a “violent felon” who is currently on parole. He said surveillance video showed Cowell fleeing the scene and changing his clothes in a nearby parking lot. “In my close to 30 years experience, [it was] probably one of the most vicious attacks I have seen,” Rojas said, CBS San Francisco reports.

Ansar Mohammed, the father of the victims, rushed to the station Sunday evening when he got word of the attack. “I want justice for my daughter. I work at Highland Hospital and I see this every single day,” he said, CBS San Francisco reports. “I never imagined myself going through nothing like this. That’s my baby girl up there.”

The woman killed was identified as 18-year-old Nia Wilson. Police said she died at the scene. They said her sister Latifa was rushed to a nearby hospital.

“He stabbed my daughter repeatedly,” Muhammed said with tears streaming down his cheeks. “This is a parent’s worst nightmare.”

Mayor Libby Schaaf offered her condolences to the victims on Monday. “The senseless and violent stabbing of two young women on a BART train platform last night has shaken our community,” Schaaf said in a statement. “Every parent who saw the father of Nia Wilson grieve for his daughter is heartbroken by this horrific act.”

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Free America Network Articles

Leave a Reply

Next Post

Feds: Backyard flocks sicken people in 44 states

Live poultry in backyard flocks are linked to several multistate outbreaks of salmonella infections that have now sickened 212 people in 44 states, federal health officials warned Monday.  The most recent illnesses began on June 21, with 88 of the cases reported in the last month, the Centers for Disease […]