North Hollywood Man Guilty in Subway Stabbing Murder

LOS ANGELES, CA -- A North Hollywood man was convicted Thursday of fatally stabbing a passenger on a Metro Red Line subway train at a station beneath Vermont Avenue.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated less than a day before finding Angelo Correa, 27, guilty of first-degree murder for the Jan. 13, 2014, attack on Jose Velazco-Alvarado.

Jurors also found true an allegation that he personally used a pocket knife during the crime.

The jury saw videotaped footage showing Correa lunging forward before the attack, in which the victim was stabbed once in the neck, said Deputy District Attorney Jacob Yim.

One passenger who was nearby identified Correa as the man she saw make a stabbing motion, and another passenger identified Correa as the man he saw lunging toward the victim, the prosecutor said.

Others described Correa as acting aggressively on the subway platform and the train before the attack, according to Yim.

The prosecutor said the 34-year-old victim -- who died after being taken to a hospital -- looked at Correa before being attacked, and there was no evidence the two knew each other.

Correa was arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies four days later at his North Hollywood home, and has remained jailed since then.

He is due back before Judge Henry J. Hall for sentencing Jan. 30, when he is facing 26 years to life in state prison.

"This event clearly was a tragedy and I hope the transportation authority understands the need for increased security if we're truly going to get the public to utilize public transit and justify the money we're spending on it," Correa's attorney said outside court.

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock