Police in the San Francisco Bay Area have arrested a 27-year-old man who they say brutally stabbed two sisters at an Oakland, Calif., train station Sunday night, leaving one of them dead.
John Lee Cowell, a parolee who was released from state prison four months ago, is accused of stabbing 18-year-old Nia Wilson and her 26-year-old sister in the neck and body about 9:30 p.m. at the MacArthur Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, according to BART police. Authorities believe it was a random attack.
Wilson died of her injuries at the scene, while her older sister remains in stable condition, officials said.
BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas told reporters Monday evening that the suspect came up behind Wilson and stabbed her twice in rapid succession before doing the same to her sister in what he called a "prison-yard type of attack."
"It basically happened at the snap of the fingers, at the drop of the pin _ that quick," Rojas said.
Shortly before 6:30 p.m. Monday, authorities received a tip from a BART rider and found Cowell aboard an Antioch-bound train at the Pleasant Hill Station, where he was taken into custody. He was not armed, Rojas said.
News of the killing stoked public concern that a hate crime had been committed. Cowell is white and Wilson is black.
Rojas said detectives have not found evidence that Cowell is tied to a hate group, but they are investigating a motive and plan to interview him.
"While we don't have any facts that suggest he's connected with any white supremacist group, we are going to explore all options and all possibilities," Rojas said. "He does have a violent past."
Cowell was described as a transient with a criminal history. Police had searched for him at addresses in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
Cowell and the sisters boarded the train at the Concord station, according to a statement released by BART. He did not interact with either woman until the attack, which took place at the MacArthur station, said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman for BART.
Surveillance footage captured Cowell changing his clothes after the attack, Trost said.
