70-year-old Metro passenger set ablaze

A woman who appeared to be homeless set a 70-yearold Metro rail passenger on fire in an unprovoked attack in Pasadena this month, officials said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to an assault call on the L, or Gold, Line train at Lake Avenue around 10:55 pm May 7. The unidentified woman had said something to the passenger and he ignored it, said Ramon Montenegro, a spokesman for the sheriff’s Transit Services Bureau.

She then squirted the man with a f lammable liquid and set him on fire with a lighter. Other passengers rushed to help, using their jackets or whatever they had on him to snuff out the flames, Montenegro said.

The two did not appear to know each other. The suspect was arrested, and the victim was transported to a hospital. He was in serious but stable condition and expected to survive.

The incident is one of a string of cases in which homeless individuals have attacked Metro riders or workers.

Violent crimes jumped 81% for the first two months of this year on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus and rail system. The agency has been wrestling with a surge of homelessness on its system as riders return to commuting. At Union Station, workers say homeless people grappling with mental illness regularly scream insults and threats and have assaulted them.

“This unprovoked attack is shocking,” said Los Angeles County supervisor and Metro director Kathryn Barger, who represents the area. “It speaks to the need to have public safety officials on-site at Metro stations.”

The agency contracts with the sheriff, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Long Beach Police Department to patrol the system. The Metro board recently authorized extending their contract for up to a year to allow time to develop a new process for selecting an agency or agencies to handle security.