The suspect in the fatal stabbing of a woman and the wounding of her sister at the MacArthur Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station on Sunday was arrested on a train to Antioch after being on the run for 21 hours. BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas told a news conference that an anonymous tip from a rider on a BART train led to the arrest of John Lee Cowell, 27, the Associated Press reported. Police intercepted the train at Pleasant Hill BART station and arrested the paroled felon, ABC 7 reported. Cowell had no weapon, and did not resist arrest, Rojas said. Police launched a manhunt on Sunday after 18-year-old Nia Wilson was stabbed to death and her sister, Latifa Wilson, 25, was wounded on a platform at MacArthur BART station. Nia Wilson died from her injuries at the scene, while Latifa Wilson remained in a critical condition in hospital Monday. Rojas said that surveillance camera footage showed that Cowell had been riding on the same train as the sisters, but they did not interact. As they got onto the platform, Cowell launched the attack, Rojas said. "It looks like it was an unprovoked, unwarranted, vicious attack," Rojas said, adding police did not have a motive for what he described as a "prison style" attack, in which Nia Wilson was stabbed in the neck twice. The sisters are black, and Cowell is white. Rojas said that police had not found any connections between Cowell and white supremacist groups. The East Bay Times reported that Cowell has an extensive criminal record. In 2016, Kaiser Medical in Richmond filed a restraining order against him after he was accused of threatening to kill an employee. He spent two years in prison after being sentenced for armed robbery and was released on parole four months ago. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, in a statement released after Cowell was caught, expressed condolences to the Wilson family and welcomed news of the arrest. "I am relieved to learn that the suspect was apprehended after an anonymous tip from a BART rider led to the arrest of the suspect. May this serve as the first step in bringing justice for the Wilson family, and healing to our community," she said. "As the Mayor of Oakland, it's important I acknowledge that this horrific crime has a context. Although investigators currently have no evidence to conclude that this tragedy was racially motivated or that the suspect was affiliated with any hate groups, the fact that his victims were both young African American women stirs deep pain and palpable fear in all of us who acknowledge the reality that our country still suffers from a tragic and deeply racist history."<doc-sep>OAKLAND (CBS SF) — With tears and smiles, the family of Nia Wilson recalled an 18-year-old Monday who had a love for life and a willingness to help others. UPDATE: BART Police Arrest Suspect In Brutal MacArthur Station Stabbing Wilson was traveling on BART Sunday night with her older sisters — Latifa and Nishiya — when she stopped to help a woman struggling with a stroller exit a train at Oakland’s MacArthur station. It was at that moment that a man pulled out a knife, slashed her across the neck and stabbed her sister, Latifa, before fleeing. Nia’s wound proved to be fatal and the randomness and cruelness of the act was not lost on her family. ALSO READ: “This was a random act, it was cruel. It was a hate crime,” her aunt Brande told KPIX 5 in an exclusive interview. “My niece was out enjoying her day and out of nowhere someone just takes her life.” BART officials announced Monday evening that the suspect in Sunday night’s fatal stabbing that left one young woman dead and a second in the hospital was taken into custody at the Pleasant Hill BART station. Earlier, BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas identified the suspect as a local transient, 27-year-old John Lee Cowell and characterized him as a violent felon currently on parole. Rojas cautioned that investigators have not yet established a motive. “I know there’s been a lot of conversation on social media regarding that, but I don’t have one piece of evidence that would suggest this is race-related,” said Rojas. “But should that be the case, we will pursue the appropriate hate crimes if they’re applicable.” Rojas also said that he was shocked at the violence of the attack. He likened it to a prison-yard stabbing. “As they were transferring at the MacArthur platform, they were approached by and individual with a knife who struck very rapidly,” said the chief. “In my close to 30 years of police experience, it was probably one of the most vicious attacks that I have seen.” ALSO READ: Transient Convicted In Brutal Sexual Assault Of Woman He Met On BART The murder has the family reeling. “My baby was only 18. She was less than 100 pounds soaking wet. This man just came up and did all this to my baby,” her mother, Alicia Greyson said with tears streaming out of eyes. “My baby didn’t deserve this. She hated BART. She was always saying, ‘Mama, I’m scared of BART. '” ALSO READ: BART’s Fleet Of The Future Is Already Spending The Present Getting Repaired Greyson said Nia was a ‘wonderful’ daughter. “She wasn’t in trouble, she’s never been to jail,” the grieving mother said. “She was a cheerleader. She played basketball (at Oakland High)…She had her CPR training…She was so smart and gifted.” The women were returning home from a swimming party and barbecue in Concord when the attack happened, family said. Nia Wilson used her emergency medical training to save a choking relative, her family fondly recalled. “It was my uncle’s funeral,” Greyson said. “My little cousins, their grandmother.. a piece of (chicken) got wedged (in her throat). Everybody tried and tried ( to help her) and then it was taking long and I told Nia to go over and help your cousins…She went over there and assessed the situation. She went behind her and did the Heimlich Maneuver and she started coughing. Saved her life.” Nia Wilson was also excited because she had a job interview all set up for Monday afternoon. “She had a job interview at 2 p.m. today,” Greyson said between sobs. “It was just a little warehouse job, but you know it was a job. She was only 18. She was so happy (about it)…That’s probably why she was out really enjoying herself (Sunday night).” A vigil and rally is being held at the MacArthur BART station in Oakland early Monday evening to remember Nia that had already drawn hundreds of attendees as of 5 p.m.<doc-sep>Update: John Lee Cowell, the suspect in fatal stabbing, has been arrested. Click here for the latest details. A manhunt is underway for a suspect accused of fatally stabbing an 18-year-old woman and wounding her sister as they stepped off a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train in Oakland, California, late Sunday. John Lee Cowell, 27, was identified by police as the lone suspect Monday after authorities reviewed footage from surveillance cameras at the scene. Investigators have not yet determined a motive for the attack, BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas said in a news conference Monday. Rojas said there was no evidence suggesting the attack was racially motivated, but investigators haven't ruled it out. "In my close to 30 years experience, [it was] probably one of the most vicious attacks I have seen," Rojas said. Police said the suspect was riding in the same car as the victims Sunday and attacked them soon after they exited onto the MacArthur platform. Investigators have recovered evidence at the scene. Cowell, who is white, stands 5 foot, 8 inches tall and weighs 190 pounds, police said. His hair was described as short and dark and he wears a cropped beard and mustache. Authorities said Cowell should be considered dangerous and urged the public to call police if they see him. This undated Facebook photo shows Nia Wilson. Facebook Cowell allegedly struck the women "very rapidly" in what Rojas called an "unprovoked, unwarranted, vicious attack." He said there was no indication that there was a dispute or interaction between Cowell and the victims. Detectives discovered a knife at a construction site near the train station, he said. "It's more reminiscent of a prison yard assault where you have an individual with a sharp object or a shank and they do their attack so quickly that before anybody can really react, the person takes off running," he said. Ansar Mohammed, the father of the victims, rushed to the station Sunday evening when he got word of the attack. "I want justice for my daughter. I work at Highland Hospital and I see this every single day," he said, CBS San Francisco reports. "I never imagined myself going through nothing like this. That's my baby girl up there." The woman killed was identified as 18-year-old Nia Wilson. Police said she died at the scene. They said her sister Latifa was rushed to a nearby hospital. "He stabbed my daughter repeatedly," Muhammed said with tears streaming down his cheeks. "This is a parent's worst nightmare." Mayor Libby Schaaf offered her condolences to the victims on Monday. "The senseless and violent stabbing of two young women on a BART train platform last night has shaken our community," Schaaf said in a statement. "Every parent who saw the father of Nia Wilson grieve for his daughter is heartbroken by this horrific act."<doc-sep>OAKLAND, Calif. -- The hunt for a man police say killed an 18-year-old woman in an unprovoked knife attack in the San Francisco Bay Area ended where it began: in a train station. John Cowell, 27, a recently paroled robber with a reported history of drug use, homelessness and violence, was peacefully arrested on an Antioch-bound train Monday night about a dozen miles from the Oakland station where investigators believe he killed Nia Wilson and wounded her sister Sunday night. Authorities said they weren't ruling out race as a factor in the stabbings. The arrest "is the first step to achieving justice for Nia and her family," Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Chief Carlos Rojas said at a news conference. A phone call from a BART rider led police to stop and search a Richmond-bound train at the MacArthur Station in Oakland but Cowell wasn't aboard, Rojas said. "About 10 minutes later after we got the call, another patron told us the subject got on an Antioch-bound train," he said. That train was stopped at the Pleasant Hill station in Walnut Park, northeast of Oakland. Cowell was on board and was arrested without incident. He wasn't carrying a weapon, authorities said. It wasn't immediately known if Cowell had a lawyer. John Lee Cowell BART Police Dept. Asked how a wanted man could have gotten back into the BART system, Rojas said he didn't immediately know but said the public transportation system is "porous" and large. Rojas said police officers were on duty at the MacArthur station where the attack took place but wasn't sure it could have been prevented because of the suddenness of the unprovoked and possibly random attack. In a "prison-style attack," Cowell stabbed Nia Wilson twice in the neck and then attacked her sister before fleeing and apparently doffing his pants and sweatshirt to evade capture, Rojas said. The knife believed to have been used in the attack was found at a nearby construction site. Letifah Wilson, 26, said that she, Nia and a third sister had been returning from a family outing when they were "blindsided by a maniac." "He didn't know us, we didn't know him," Wilson said. CBS San Francisco reports the sisters were helping a woman struggling with a stroller exit a train when they were attacked. The women's father, Ansar Muhammad, said one of his daughters called him, crying hysterically, and told him to get to the MacArthur station. "It's nothing imaginable, seeing your child on the BART platform with a yellow tarp over her body," Muhammad said Monday evening. "That is an image I'll never forget for the rest of my life. So I want justice. All I want is justice." Surveillance video on the train and at the station's platform showed Cowell had been riding the same car as the sisters Sunday, but they didn't interact, Rojas said. A motive for the attack remained unclear. While there has been rampant speculation on social media that the crime may have been racially motivated, Rojas wasn't able to confirm that as of Monday evening, CBS San Francisco says. This undated Facebook photo shows Nia Wilson. Facebook He said Cowell hasn't been connected to any radical or white supremacist groups, although he added: "We are going to explore all options and all possibilities." The victims were black and Cowell is white. Monday night, Oakland City Councilmember Lynette McElhaney said she had spoken to the district attorney and was told that Cowell will be arraigned Wednesday and the office hasn't ruled out charging him with a hate crime. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf issued a statement acknowledging that there currently was no evidence that the attack was racially motivated but "the fact that his victims were both young African American women stirs deep pain and palpable fear in all of us who acknowledge the reality that our country still suffers from a tragic and deeply racist history." Protesters packed the MacArthur BART station early Monday evening to demand justice for Nia and her older sister, reports CBS San Francisco. Dozens raised their signs and voices for a vigil at the growing memorial. Nia's mother was there, and was consoled by family, friends and a community of support. At one point, the rally and vigil moved from the station to downtown Oakland. Police said about a thousand people were part of that march, a planned "pro-Oakland" demonstration organized to counter a white supremacist group that had announced plans to gather at a neighborhood bar. Although police said there was no evidence yet the attack was racially-motivated, some demonstrators said they believed otherwise. The march continued into the night with demonstrators hanging up a large banner that read "Bay Area Stands Against Hate." Police said two people were detained when a small scuffle broke out. They have since been released. Nia Wilson's death was the third involving an attack in the BART system in five days, making it one of the deadliest weeks in the system's history. On Sunday, a homeless man died after he was punched by an attacker Saturday at a station in San Leandro, fell and struck his head on pavement. Another man who was attacked last week died Friday after a small cut he suffered became infected, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. An arrest was made in that case and authorities said neither case was connected to the stabbings. Crime on BART trains and in the system's stations has been a hot button issue for nearly a year, CBS San Francisco notes. BART Police says it has ramped up patrols and working video cameras have been placed throughout stations and on the cars.<doc-sep>
PLEASANT HILL, Calif. -- Officials in Oakland announced Monday evening that the suspect in Sunday night's fatal stabbing that left one young woman dead and a second in the hospital was taken into custody at the Pleasant Hill train station, CBS San Francisco reports. The suspect, identified earlier Monday as 27-year-old John Lee Cowell, is a transient with a history of violence. Cowell allegedly pulled out a knife at the MacArthur BART station Sunday evening and slashed Nia Wilson across the neck before stabbing her sister, Latifa Wilson, and fleeing the scene. Nia's wound proved to be fatal and she died at the scene. Her sister was being treated at a local hospital. BART posted about the arrest on their official Twitter account: Murder suspect now in custody! BART Police took him into custody at Pleasant Hill BART. Full details to come and Chief availability at Rockridge BART at 8pm. Thank you BPD and thank riders for keeping your eye out!! https://t.co/OxZmOw2OkI — SFBART (@SFBART) July 24, 2018 According to a BART source, authorities received an anonymous citizen call saying the suspect was on an Antioch-bound train in the East Bay. Police stopped the train at Pleasant Hill station, where officers boarded and arrested Cowell without incident. BART officials thanked riders for help in the search for the suspect. Violence on Bay Area Rapid Transit has resulted in three homicides over the last week including the fatal stabbing of the 18-year-old woman Sunday night. BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas called the homicides 'an anomaly' at a press conference earlier Monday. "It's rare that we have a homicide so, of course, this is ramped up to the highest priority when you have three deaths," he said. "It doesn't matter that we have one person in custody on one — so that person's in custody and will be held accountable. We have pictures of the other two. These are all very serious crimes whether they happen on BART or right outside our station." Crime on BART trains and in the system's stations has been a hot button issue for nearly a year. BART Police says it has ramped up patrols and working video cameras have been placed throughout stations and on the cars. Rojas said officers were at the MacArthur Station at the time of Sunday's deadly attack. This undated Facebook photo shows Nia Wilson. Facebook Nia Wilson and her two sisters were traveling on BART Sunday night when they stopped to help a woman struggling with a stroller exit a train. It was at that moment that a man -- identified as John Lee Cowell, a transient with a history of violence -- pulled out a knife, slashed Nia across the neck and stabbed her sister, Latifa, before fleeing. Nia's wound proved to be fatal while her sister was being treated at a local hospital. "It was a very random attack that occurred at MacArthur," Rojas said. "We had officers at the station. In order for that to have been prevented, it would have been very difficult. You would have had to be standing right next to the individual. You can't have an officer on every square inch of a station." Station video cameras captured Cowell fleeing the station. He was also recorded in the parking garage getting rid of his clothing. He allegedly discarded the large knife outside the station where police found it. Authorities will be releasing additional details about the arrest later Monday evening.