OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on a suspect arrested in a fatal stabbing at an Oakland train station (all times local):
Left, John Cowell, right This July 3, 2017, photo provided by Ebony Monroe shows her cousin Nia Wilson in a selfie, who was killed in an unprovoked stabbing attack at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, July 22, 2018. John Cowell, 27, a recently paroled robber with a violent history, was peacefully arrested on an Antioch-bound train Monday night about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the Oakland station where investigators believe he killed Wilson and wounded her sister Sunday night. (Nia Wilson via AP)
3:05 p.m.
A Northern California prosecutor says she will seek a life sentence for a 27-year-old parolee charged in the stabbing death of a young woman at a subway station. The woman’s sister was also wounded in the attack.
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said Wednesday that prosecutors are still investigating if suspect John Cowell was motivated by hate. He is white and Nia Wilson was black.
Cowell did not enter a plea and his arraignment on murder and attempted murder charges was set over to a future date.
Cowell was arrested Monday night on a Bay Area Rapid Transit train in the San Francisco Bay Area, about a dozen miles (19 kilometers) from the MacArthur station where Wilson was killed and her sister Letifah Wilson was wounded.
Cowell’s family says he has suffered from mental illness most of his life and failed to receive proper treatment.
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1:30 p.m.
Prosecutors in Northern California say a paroled robber faces murder and attempted murder charges in the attack at a subway station against two sisters that left one of them dead.
They say 27-year-old John Cowell is set to be arraigned Wednesday in Oakland in the Sunday attack against 18-year-old Nia Wilson, of Oakland, and her 26-year-old sister, Letifah Wilson.
Alameda County prosecutors say he also faces parole violations charges.
Cowell was arrested Monday night on a Bay Area Rapid Transit train in the San Francisco Bay Area, about a dozen miles (19 kilometers) from the MacArthur station where the sisters were attacked.
His family says he has suffered from mental illness most of his life and failed to receive proper treatment.
Records show Cowell recently served two years for second-degree robbery.
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1:05 p.m.
Police in Northern California say they are investigating the death of a homeless man who was attacked at a subway station the day before a teenage girl was fatally stabbed on a transferring platform.
Bay Area Rapid Transit police say they are looking for a suspect who allegedly punched 47-year-old Don Stevens at the Bay Fair station on Saturday.
Authorities late Tuesday released images of the man they say hit Stevens to the side of the head with a closed fist. Stevens fell and struck his head.
He died at a hospital Sunday, the same day John Cowell allegedly stabbed 18-year-old Nia Wilson to death at the MacArthur station what authorities say was an unprovoked attack.
Cowell is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
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My condolences to the Family of this senseless killing.
Why are we still blaming the gun and racism when its pretty clear that since the government closed all the asylums and sanitariums this type of crime has plagued our society. When will Americans address the problem and save lives instead of blaming the causes on their own political solutions. We have a huge mental illness problem in America and no one is doing anything about it. If people are found mentally incompetent then the large corporations who own and run prisons will lose money and the politicians will lose those large campaign contributions. When the survivors repeat the blame the politicians give, then they support continuing the problem and not are fixing the true problem. Its time America took care of its mental health problem instead of passing the blame and letting our loved ones die.