Police arrest suspect in fatal stabbing outside 24th Street Mission BART station
SAN FRANCISCO -- Police on Friday morning arrested a suspect in connection with a fatal stabbing on the street level outside the 24th Street Mission station last month.
BART Police said they have been working in collaboration with the San Francisco Police Department to identify the suspect since the stabbing occurred on August 28 in the 24th Street Plaza area above the 24th Street/Mission Station in San Francisco. The two agencies held a joint operation Friday morning to take the suspect into custody.
While BART police did not provide details on the operation, authorities identified the suspect arrested as 42-year-old Richard Henry Visor.
BART surveillance cameras captured an argument between two adult males in the plaza near an elevator at around 1:40 p.m. on August 28. Video showed Visor stabbing the victim, who walked down the stairs into the station and subsequently collapsed on the platform. BART personnel attempted to aid the victim, but he died from his injuries at the scene.
"This arrest is a huge win for our riders and once again demonstrates the effectiveness of our network of surveillance cameras and working collaboratively with our partner agencies," BART Police Chief Ed Alvarez said a press release. "The message to violent criminals should be clear: if you commit a crime at BART, we will have your image and we will find you."
BART has a network of more 4,000 working cameras throughout the system in stations, on trains, in parking lots, and in plazas.
The stabbing a week after community members knocked down temporary fences lining the very same BART plaza.
BART installed the fencing last month as part of a crackdown on illegal street vending, the sale of stolen goods and open-air drug dealing.
Police have still not found the suspect wanted in a shooting on a BART train at Oakland's Fruitvale station that happened two days before the fatal stabbing on August 26. That incident led to the closure of both the Fruitvale and Lake Merritt stations while authorities investigated.
The shooting victim was transported to Highland Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, but later stabilized and was expected to survive.