MAN CHARGED WITH SHOOTING AMTRAK CONDUCTOR
A Wisconsin man who formerly worked for the federal government is facing attempted murder charges for the shooting of an Amtrak conductor Tuesday afternoon because he could not get off the train at a station inwest suburban Naperville, according to authorities.
Edward Klein, 79, of West Allis, Wisconsin, appeared in bond court Friday, and Judge Joseph Bugos ordered him held on $ 1.5 million bond, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
He is charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, according to the DuPage County sheriff’s office.
He was aboard an Amtrak train that left Kansas City for Chicago about 9 a. m. Tuesday, according to prosecutors. The train stopped at the downtown Naperville train station about 4: 45 p. m. and some passengers got off.
Klein stayed on the train but decided hewanted to get off after the doors closed. When he was not allowed to exit, he “pulled a revolver, stuck his arm out of the window of the train door and fired one shot, striking the victim in the abdomen,” a statement from prosecutors said.
He then tried to get off the train by climbing through the same window but “was unable to as train personnel and other passengers detained him until authorities arrived,” prosecutors said.
Klein was taken into custody and a handgun was recovered, police said.
The conductor, a 45- year- old Homewood man, was shot in the torso and was taken to Edward Hospital in Naperville, where he was conscious and alert, police said at the time. Prosecutors said he underwent surgery and remains in intensive care.
A GoFundMe page set up by co- workers to help pay his medical expenses had raised more than $ 8,000 of a $ 10,000 goal as of Friday morning.
Klein will next appear in court June 12 before Judge Daniel Guerin, according to prosecutors.
State’s attorney’s office spokesman Paul Darrah said Klein formerly worked for the Federal Protective Services, a branch of Homeland Security that provides security for federal facilities.
Klein should not have had the gun in his possession, according to Amtrak’s policy on carrying weapons.
Guns are only allowed on trains if they are “unloaded and in a secure container as checked baggage between stations that accept checked baggage,” a spokesman said.
All guns must be declared in advance, and placed in checked baggage, according to Amtrak’s policy.