Video reveals train passengers pinning down an alleged gunman until policeman arrive after a shooting incident on the Market-Frankford Line in Philadelphia. The footage was filmed by witness Mark Krull.
The incident was a parable of inhumanity that went viral. It was a grim symbol of American society that obsessed with social media and not on crime or the pandemic.
Video shows passengers pinning down alleged gunman
Video shows a group of Philadelphia train passengers pinning down an alleged gunman until policeman arrive to arrest him. The footage was taken by a witness and shared on Facebook, according to CNN affiliate WPVI.
The incident happened Thursday morning on the Market-Frankford Line train in West Philadelphia. A 19-year-old man was shot in the arm and is in stable condition, officials said.
While the incident has prompted discussion about whether passengers should have reported the assault, legal experts say that unrelated people do not have a duty to intervene in a criminal attack, like a parent does for a child.
Prosecutors pursuing charges against 35-year-old Fiston Ngoy for allegedly raping a woman on an elevated train last week do not anticipate charging fellow passengers for not intervening, Margie McAboy, a spokeswoman for the Delaware County District Attorney’s office, told CNN on Wednesday.
Passengers say they heard loud pops
When a woman was raped on a Philadelphia train, riders held their cellphones and pointed them in the direction of the attack instead of calling 911. The incident sparked nationwide outrage and police said bystanders did nothing to prevent it.
SEPTA officials have urged passengers to report any suspicious activity on trains or stations as part of their “See Something, Say Something” campaign. Authorities also want anyone who videotaped the rape to come forward.
Investigators are looking for any witnesses who filmed the attack but didn’t call 911, SEPTA Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt said Monday.
But he emphasized that there was no legal reason for any passenger who witnessed the assault not to intervene. In Pennsylvania, a person who witnesses an assault and doesn’t intervene can be charged with failing to perform a duty.
Passengers say they saw a man with a gun
Video shows passengers on a SEPTA train pinning down an alleged gunman until policeman arrive. The incident took place on Thursday morning and was caught on cellphone footage by a witness.
Passengers on the Market-Frankford Line train say they saw a man with a gun and heard loud pops as the train stopped at 52nd Street Station in West Philadelphia. They pinned him down until officers arrived on the scene, according to NBC10.
The shooting left many people on the subway nervous and worried about security. It came a week after two people were shot at a SEPTA station in suburban Philadelphia.
The shooting has prompted officials across the country to increase security at transportation hubs from Philadelphia to Connecticut, including in New York City. It has also sparked fears that there could be more attacks in the future.
Passengers say they saw a man being held down
One of the most memorable parts of taking a train in Philadelphia is getting onto the iconic 30th Street Station, which has five-story windows and Art Deco chandeliers. But that’s also a part of the story of an alleged rape and assault on a woman by a man who was on a SEPTA train.
A man accused of groping and dragging a woman up a staircase while screaming at her is now in jail after police say passengers pinned him down until a policeman arrived on the scene. Travelers recorded the assault using their mobile phones, and a few of them voluntarily submitted their video evidence to investigators, as reported by the Associated Press.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer has clarified that the narrative suggesting people watched a man rape a woman on the train and “filmed it for their own gratification instead of calling the police” is untrue. Other riders on the train were not present for the entire 40-minute alleged assault, and might not have known what was happening or had no idea how to help, he said.