Suspect arrested in violent attacks on BART passengers

OAKLAND - Police in the San Francisco Bay Area have arrested a suspect they say was involved in two violent crimes on commuter trains last week, hours after officials released surveillance photos of the man.

Bay Area Rapid Transit officers said Monday that they had Berkeley resident Mario Christopher Washington, 42, in custody after a fire inspector spotted the suspect in downtown Oakland and alerted authorities.

The suspect hit a man on the head with bolt cutters on Aug. 3 at a station in San Leandro, KTVU (http://bit.ly/2vesfAg) reported. Two days later, Washington hit a man in the mouth twice on a train in San Francisco, officials said.

The unprovoked attacks left the two victims with non-life threatening injuries, police said, adding that neither passenger was robbed.

Officials released surveillance images of the suspect after they concluded the same man was responsible for both attacks, BART police said.

On Aug. 5, a young girl emerged from a group of about 10 teenagers and pepper-sprayed two people at a train station in San Francisco in an attempted robbery, officials said.

More officers will patrol the trains, Deputy Chief Ed Alvarez said.