Anthony Watson ID'd As Man Fatally Stabbed On METRO Blue Line Light Rail Train
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (WCCO) — A passenger could soon face charges in a deadly stabbing aboard a METRO Blue light rail train early Thursday morning.
An argument between two passengers ended after one of them one pulled out a knife at about 1 a.m. on a northbound train that had just left Mall of America, heading to downtown Minneapolis.
"Once officers got there they found out that one man had been stabbed," Metro Transit spokesman Howie Padilla said.
Bloomington police and Metro Transit officers met the train at its very next stop, 28th Avenue in Bloomington, just a short distance from the mall.
The injured passenger, 45-year-old Anthony Demetrius Watson, was transported to Hennepin Health Care hospital, where he later died from his wounds. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office says Watson died from multiple sharp force injuries.
The knife used in the attack was recovered, and the 67-year-old assailant surrendered to police without incident. It's still unclear exactly what initiated the fight, or whether the suspect was the aggressor or was engaging in self-defense.
"We do have video. Our officers who have been working throughout the night are looking at that video and trying to talk with witnesses. Trying to piece together the puzzle of what might have happened here," Padilla said.
The incident comes just hours after the Metropolitan Council approved $1.3 million to upgrade LRT trains with high-definition, real-time security cameras. Officials say the new technology can't prevent all crime. but the cameras will give investigators another tool to deter and solve them.
Brandon Walker rides the blue line both early morning and late evening. He welcomes anything to make the transit safer.
"It's a lot of people, different kind of people and sometimes they have problems. You see it and they display it, like last night," Walker said.
Metro Transit says it's the first incident in 15 years and some 1.8 million rides where an on-board disturbance ended in a homicide.
