Stabbing Aboard Metro Train In Long Beach Leaves 1 Dead

LONG BEACH, CA — The Long Beach Police Department released additional information Thursday about a fatal stabbing at a Downtown Metro station Wednesday afternoon.

According to LBPD, a man aboard the Los Angeles Metro was approached by three unknown men shortly after the train entered Long Beach.

"Sometime after the Metro Rail entered Long Beach, three unknown male suspects boarded, immediately approached the victim, and began physically assaulting him," the LBPD said in a statement.

The assault escalated further when one of the subjects pulled out a knife and stabbed the man multiple times, according to preliminary investigation results. Eventually, the train came to a stop near 1st Street and Pine Avenue in Downtown Long Beach and the three suspects ran from the area, leaving the man inside the train car heavily bleeding.

Witnesses aboard the train told the Long Beach Post the victim and his attackers briefly argued before the situation turned violent. According to the report, the man was stabbed seven times despite the witness telling them to stop.

Officers arrived at the scene at about 3:40 p.m. and removed the approximately 20-year-old man from the train to provide medical aid before paramedics arrived and transported him to a local hospital. Officials said the man later died at the hospital due to his injuries.

Officials are withholding the man's identity pending notification of his family by the Los Angeles County Department of the Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing, LBPD said, but detectives said it doesn't appear to be a random incident.

LBPD detectives are looking for any witnesses and people with video of the incident. Anyone who may have information was urged to contact homicide detectives Donald Collie or Chasen Contreras at 562-570-7244. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling 800-222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.