A white Bay Area Rapid Transit passenger stabbed 18-year-old Nia Wilson and her sister, 26-year-old Lahtifa Wilson Sunday evening on the MacArthur Station Platform in Oakland, California. Wilson died on the scene while the elder Wilson was hospitalized and released the next day.
Nia Wilson…COED
At 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, the Wilson sisters and an additional sister were riding the train on their way home from a family event. As they neared their destination, they listened to music and enjoyed each other’s company. They exited when they reached the MacArthur Station. As they stepped off the train, the Wilson sisters were stabbed.
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The attack is being labeled as “random.”
The elder Wilson explained, “For what? I don’t know why,” she said, standing with a bandage on the right side of her neck. “And I looked back, and he was wiping off his knife and stood at the stairs and just looked — and from there on, I was just caring for my sister. I was in shock. … I didn’t know I was cut because I was paying more attention to my sister. But he just stood there, like it was nothing.”
“She just yelled my name — ‘Tifa, Tifa, Tifa’ — and I said, ‘I got you, baby, I got you.”
Wilson continued, “He didn’t know us; we didn’t know him.”
The suspect, 27-year-old John Lee Cowell was recorded by BART cameras at the 9:45 p.m. time frame stabbing both victims. Cowell was also taped leaving the scene, entering a neighboring parking lot and changing his clothing. The knife used in the attack was recovered in a nearby construction lot.
Cowell was homeless and used to visit the emergency department of Kaiser Hospital and make “rather specific” threats, said Jason Curliano, an attorney who represents the hospital.
In 2015, an additional restraining order was filed against Cowell, under unclear conditions.
In May 2016, Cowell was convicted of felony second-degree robbery, according to court records. That year, a Kaiser hospital in Richmond obtained a restraining order against him after he allegedly continually harassed and threatened staff members with physical harm.
Ebony Munroe, a cousin of the Wilson sisters said, “She needs her justice … she was just an innocent kid, and she didn’t deserve this.”
“And he did this for no reason,” she added.
Cowell has been apprehended and is awaiting further questioning.
