A 66-year-old Atlanta woman was fatally stabbed aboard a MARTA train in what transit police described as a random attack.The victim, identified by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office as 66-year-old Margaret Swan, was attacked as a train traveled between the Lakewood-Fort McPherson and Oakland City stations, according to MARTA Police Chief Scott Kreher.
"This appears to be a senseless act of violence, and our thoughts are with the victim's loved ones and those who witnessed this horrific incident," MARTA said in a statement.
John Elijah Matthews, 25,
| …still feral, no longer a yoot… |
According to the warrant obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta, the passenger was sitting alone on the train when Matthews began the alleged stabbing attack.
At 11:21 on Saturday, the CCTV reportedly showed Swan sitting alone on the train car. Just before 11:25, Matthews is seen on board, walking to the side of the train where Swan was sitting, standing near her alone.
Matthews, 19 seconds later, "is seen walking up to (Swan) and standing just to her right."
Several seconds later, he allegedly took out a knife, opened it and cut the victim in the throat. 11Alive reported that Swan was stabbed 18 to 20 times in an unprovoked attack.
During the attack, the warrant said, the victim was screaming for help as she was continuing to get stabbed. The suspect was then seen on the CCTV cameras "throwing [Swan] to the floor and standing near her until the train arrived at the Oakland City Station," less than two minutes later, according to the warrant.
When the train arrived at Oakland City, according to the warrant, Matthews got out with a knife still in hand as officers rushed to the scene. Matthews was arrested and charged shortly after.Emergency medical workers attempted life-saving efforts, but Swan died on the scene.
The stabbing comes as Atlanta passengers have grown increasingly worried about train safety. Last week, according to FOX 5, a man was stabbed multiple times at the Georgia State Station.
The great-grandmother mercilessly butchered by an alleged homeless lunatic
…another of the ignored violently mentally ill who should be kept in a locked mental ward for his own safety as well as the rest of us…
on an Atlanta train was carrying a knife – but didn’t have time to pull it out and try to defend herself, according to her grieving daughter.Margaret Swan, 66, carried the knife for protection as she spent decades riding the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority after never learning to drive, relying on the commuter rail every day before her throat was slashed and she was stabbed nearly two dozen times early Saturday.
Swan was sitting alone on the train around 11:20 a.m. when John Elijah Matthews, 25, was caught on chilling surveillance footage boarding and hovering over her
| …he knew he would kill, he just needed to figure out if she was the one… |
The unwitting passenger – a mother of three, grandmother of five and great-grandmother of four – screamed and tried to escape, but the suspect allegedly held her down and stabbed her another 18 to 20 times before leaving her dead on the ground in a large pool of her own blood.
“She was screaming for help, and nobody was helping her,” Sams told The Post on Monday.
Matthews was quickly arrested on the platform at Oakland City Station still brandishing a knife.
The devastated daughter ripped local officials for temporarily opening the transit system to free riders, including the homeless, during systemwide renovations and failing to properly police its stations.
“To me, it’s negligence with the security and the patrolling,” Sams said.
“Anybody has access to get on and off the trains. If you’re allowing free stuff like that, for me, police patrolling was negligent, there was no security, there was nothing. This whole situation is a situation that could have been prevented.”
Matthews, who was reportedly homeless, faces one count of felony murder.
He is being held at Fulton County Jail.