Unprovoked Attacks On BART: Suspect Arrested

SAN LEANDRO, CA — Following the widespread distribution of photos by BART Police of a suspect wanted for two unprovoked attacks on BART passengers, police arrested 42-year-old Mario Christopher Washington of Berkeley. He was arrested at Ninth Street and Broadway in Oakland, Deputy police Chief Ed Alvarez said. Police received a tip from an Oakland fire inspector that he'd seen the suspect in that area.

Washington has been booked into jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and battery.

He is accused of two recent, unprovoked attacks on BART trains. One victim was taken to the hospital for treatment of his injuries, while the other was treated by medical personnel at the scene.

According to police, on Thursday at 7:31 p.m., a male victim was seated on a train at the Bay Fair station in San Leandro when a suspect hit him in the head with an unknown metal object. The suspect also punched and kicked the victim, then fled the train and ran out of the station, police said. The victim and witnesses told police that the attack was unprovoked. Police were unable to locate the suspect.

The victim suffered a laceration to his head and was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

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On Saturday at 7:30 p.m., the same suspect was on a San Francisco-bound train approaching the Embarcadero Station. The suspect approached a man on the train and struck him twice in the face with a closed fist, then fled the scene, police said. The victim, who did not know the suspect, suffered injuries that
were not considered life-threatening and received medical treatment at the scene, police said.

BART officials in late June finished installing cameras on all 669 of its train cars after it was revealed in January 2016, following a fatal shooting on a train at the West Oakland station, that many cameras on the
trains were decoys.

— Bay City News contributed to this report; Images via BART Police

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