Man with knife on Charlotte light rail argued with others before exiting
A video circulating online of a man with a knife on a Charlotte Area Transit System light rail train happened Sunday night, the agency and police said Tuesday.
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Both agencies did not answer questions.
“We are aware of a video circulating on social media showing a portion of what appears to be a heated exchange between passengers aboard a Light Rail train on Sunday around 10:00 p.m.,” CATS and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in separate but identical statements. “CMPD is actively investigating the incident, during which one individual displayed a knife following an argument with two others in the video. This appears to be cell phone video taken by another passenger.”
The video shows a man wearing purple rubber gloves and what appears to be a teal scrub top. He’s holding and pointing a knife while arguing with another man and woman.
Neither CATS nor CMPD have said where the incident took place.
“I’ll beat your [expletive],” the man with the knife says. “I will kill you on this [expletive] train.”
A woman stood between the men, telling them to back up. She yelled at the man with the knife to get off the train.
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The video ends after the man with the knife exits the train and sits on a bench on a platform.
CMPD and CATS said no one was injured.
Charlotte’s light rail safety has come under scrutiny since the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska last August by DeCarlos Brown Jr.
The high-profile homicide captured national headlines, with President Donald Trump calling for Brown to be executed. Brown has been determined mentally unfit to stand trial on federal charges, and the courts will attempt to determine if he can be treated to understand his case.
Crime on public transit is rare. But a February Charlotte Observer investigation found violent incidents were more likely to occur on buses rather than light rails, and that bus drivers were especially susceptible.
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