Metro train operator shot at station
Assailant at large after early morning attack in Boyle Heights. The victim is stable.
A Metro train operator was shot twice around 4:10 a.m. Friday after pulling into the Indiana station along the L Line in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, authorities said Friday.
Taken to a hospital in what initially was believed to be critical condition, the operator was stable and expected to live, said Ramon Montenegro, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department’s Transit Services Bureau.
The shooter has not been found. Montenegro said detectives will review camera footage from the train platform and train car. It was not clear whether the assailant fired from inside the train or outside. “Even though there’s many cameras here, they don’t always show the entire incident,” Montenegro said.
Metro announced later in the day that it was offering a $25,000 reward “for information that leads to the identification, apprehension and conviction” of the person who committed the crime.
“Our Metro workforce should never be forced to fear for their lives,” Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chairman Eric Garcetti said in a statement. “This act of senseless violence cannot — and will not — go unanswered.”
Metro Chief Executive Phillip Washington said in a statement that the agency would support the train operator during this time.
Metro security and the Sheriff’s Department, with the support of the Los Angeles Police Department, are investigating the incident, the transit agency said in a news release.
The Indiana station, between Gleason Avenue and East 2nd Street, was temporarily closed to pedestrian traffic, and trains were not stopping at the station for much of Friday.
Detectives were talking with the victim, whom the Sheriff’s Department did not identify. “He’s able to provide information to our investigators, which they’re going to use to help develop a profile of the suspect,” Montenegro said.
The motive for the shooting was unclear, he added.
People with information about the shooting can call (888) 950-SAFE or text (213) 788-2777. Information can also be submitted through the Metro Transit Watch app.