Scores of Teens Rush Onto Train, Rob Riders

Riders were assaulted in BART attack
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 25, 2017 1:57 AM CDT
Up to 60 Teens Swarm Bay Area Train, Rob Riders
Passengers board a Bay Area Rapid Transit train in Oakland, Calif.   (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

Bay Area Rapid Transit riders were robbed and assaulted by up to 60 teens in an attack that lasted just seconds Saturday night. Police say at least seven people were robbed and two suffered injuries that needed medical attention after the juveniles swarmed a BART train at Oakland's Coliseum Station, with some teens holding the train's doors open while others confronted the passengers inside, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Police say they were on the scene within minutes, but the teens, who'd jumped the fare gates before rushing the train, had already disappeared into the surrounding neighborhood.

Police say there have been recent incidents involving juveniles running onto trains and robbing people before fleeing, but nothing on this scale. "I've been there 24 years and this is the first time I’ve heard of anything like this happening," says Keith Garcia, president of BART's police union. Police patrols at Oakland stations have been stepped up. Since the suspects are juveniles, security camera images of the teens won't be made public, a BART spokeswoman says, but they will be given to police, the local school district, and the Oakland Housing Authority. CBS San Francisco notes that BART is still in the process of replacing decoy security cameras on trains with real ones. (More BART stories.)

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