Chicago police: Boy, 15, fatally stabbed on CTA Red Line train part of group trying to rob rider
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 15-year-old boy was killed in a stabbing that started out as an attempted robbery on a CTA Red Line train on the South Side Monday, Chicago police said.
At about 3:04 a.m. in the 200-block of West 63rd Street, police said the boy was armed with a gun and was a part of a group of seven people who were attempting to rob a person on the train, Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said.
"At that point, the person who appears to be being robbed takes out a knife, stabs that person with the gun," Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said. "When that person is leaving, they placed the gun somewhere and one of the other individuals in the group that was with that individual picks up that apparent weapon."
Police said everyone involved, including the victim, ran away. The teen wasn't able to make it too far before collapsing across from the Red Line station at Yale & 63rd.
Surveillance video from a nearby gas station shows bystanders jumping into action to try and save his life, even calling on a nearby state trooper to help.
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He was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. He has been identified to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office as Darin McNair, 15, of Chicago.
No one is in custody.
CTA riders said incidents like this are becoming all too common.
"Every day I'm going to work and coming home, it's nerve-racking," CTA rider Tanzania Jones.
CTA riders were forced to take shuttle buses Monday morning as Red Line trains bypassed the 63rd St. stop so police could investigate the homicide.
"These offenders need to be captured, brought to justice to send that message that you will be held accountable for any of your crimes that occur on the CTA," CPD Supt. David Brown said.
"I can't live all tense all the time," CTA rider Marvin Crawford. "Do you know how stressful that is to the body to stay tense all the time and looking?"
The homicide comes on the heels of a rash of violent incidents involving the CTA, and calls for stepped up patrols on trains and bus stations.
"From 79th to 63rd, there's nowhere that you can stand to go to work and come home not fearing for your life," Jones said.
Last Friday, another man was stabbed on the Red Line at North and Clybourn.
"On New Year's, I was standing up there at the bus stop and I got shot in my hand by a pellet gun," Crawford said. "I didn't know I had been shot because I was so concerned about running. So I had to get a couple stitches in my hand. It's just always something on this train."
Safety on the trains is a priority for the agency's head of security. Officials said 250 unarmed CTA security guards have been hired, but getting more on board is an ongoing task.
"Security industry faces the same challenges everybody else faces, trying to get jobs filled," said Kevin Ryan, vice president of security for the CTA.
"We are in the midst of looking at how we add an additional contingent of officers to the CTA, number one, for an increased presence," Brown added. "We think that would lead to a safer CTA, in addition to being able to take quick action."
The CTA said in a statement, "The CTA is working closely with Chicago Police on its investigation of this incident, including sharing any relevant security camera video. Violence such as this is completely unacceptable, and we will assist CPD in any way to locate the suspect and seek the strongest charges possible. "
Chicago police said they are still looking for the group who was with the teen who was killed, as well as the robbery victim.
