BART police arrest suspect in stabbing outside station

A homeless man suspected of stabbing another transient outside a Fremont BART station early Thursday was arrested within 24 hours of the attack, officials said.

Joshua Fecker, 21, was arrested Thursday night at the Richmond Station after a BART police officer recognized him from a photo the transit agency had circulated during the day, according to BART.

Authorities received a report at 2:18 a.m. Thursday that a man was down with what appeared to be stab wounds to the chest and buttocks. The stabbing occurred on BART property after the Warm Springs Station had closed, officials said.

Chris Filippi, a BART spokesman, said the victim was at a hospital Friday morning and had been stabilized.

The stabbing came a month after the July 22 fatal stabbing of Nia Wilson at MacArthur Station in Oakland. Wilson’s sister was also injured in the unprovoked attack, which was the third homicide in a week on the BART system and led to an arrest.

A double stabbing occurred Aug. 3 at MacArthur Station, and a suspect in that incident was also identified with the help of surveillance footage.

BART police circulated Fecker’s photo Thursday to the public and other law enforcement agencies.

Filippi said the station’s cameras have been an invaluable “extra set of eyes” in tracking crime suspects as BART deals with an understaffed police force that has resulted in officers working mandatory overtime, six shifts a week.

“That’s just one of the reactions to what’s happened over the last few weeks,” Filippi said.

Violent crimes on BART properties have increased by 66 percent in the last five years, records show.

BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas is “dedicated to using all the resources he can to make sure passengers feel as safe as possible,” Filippi added. “It’s good that we’re able to resolve these cases.”

Josh Koehn is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: josh.koehn@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Josh_Koehn