Neocon, it looks like we need to pass some laws to register knives. First OJ and now this!
Man Stabs Three Aboard Amtrak Train
Updated 12:47.m. ET (1647 GMT) August 26, 1999 By Amy Beth Graves
OLMSTED FALLS, Ohio ? A man stabbed and wounded two conductors and a passenger aboard an Amtrak train outside Cleveland early Thursday, police said.
Mark Duncan/AP
The Lake Shore Limited was approaching Cleveland when the attacks began
A suspect was arrested when a passenger, in a crowd leaving the stopped train, told police, "That's him. That's him."
The man stabbed one conductor, then started slashing at people within his reach, wounding the two other victims, Olmsted Township police Chief Dennis McCafferty said. The suspect was wounded in a hand.
The three victims and the suspect were hospitalized, as was a fifth person who complained of chest pains.
Police said there was no apparent motive, and they didn't believe the suspect knew the victims. Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center, which treated the suspect, identified him as Aaron Hall, 41.
Patrolman Kim Kort, a crime scene technician, said it appeared the attack began in a dining car. It wasn't immediately clear whether some of the victims were stabbed in other cars, but police found heavy blood in two other cars and blood trails through seven.
An 8-inch knife was found in the suspect's pants.
The Lake Shore Limited, which runs daily between Chicago and New York, was approaching Cleveland with 376 passengers and 12 crew members aboard when the attacks began at about 3:20 a.m.
Jacqueline Williams, 43, of Worcester, Mass., who boarded the train in Toledo with her 12-year-old daughter, said one of the wounded conductors burst into her car.
"As soon as he came in, I heard the worker shout into a walkie-talkie: 'He's got a knife! He stabbed me! He stabbed me!'" she said.
A conductor stopped the train in Olmsted Falls, 14 miles southwest of Cleveland.
"When officers got on the scene there was a lot of pandemonium. People were pouring out of the train," McCafferty said.
"The suspect was mixed up with the crowd, and a witness came forward and said, 'That's him, that's him.'"
McCafferty said he could not verify an earlier report that the suspect apparently was wounded as passengers wrested the knife from him. He said the man have been wounded when he tried to hide the knife.
One stabbing victim, a man in his mid-30s, was in serious condition and undergoing surgery for stab wounds to the cheek and jaw, said Patrick Garmone, a spokesman at St. John West Shore in suburban Westlake.
A 59-year-old woman who complained of chest pains and anxiety was in fair condition, he said.
A 52-year-old man stabbed in the head was in surgery at Cleveland MetroHealth, spokesman Kelly Goodale said. A 26-year-old man stabbed in the shoulder and chin was in stable condition.
Ray Lang, an Amtrak spokesman in Chicago, said Amtrak has no security personnel on the Lake Shore Limited but has a security force that patrols major stations for suspicious passengers.
The other passengers were taken on buses to Cleveland.
Jackie Mallory, 50, of Chicago, was still shaking when she stepped off the train for the bus trip into Cleveland.
"It's been a long night," she said. |
