Man arrested in stabbing on Salt Lake City TRAX

SALT LAKE CITY — A man was arrested Wednesday morning after authorities say he stabbed another passenger on a TRAX train.

Utah Transit Authority spokesperson Gavin Gustafson said the suspect was described by other passengers as agitated when he got on a northbound Blue Line train about 8:30 a.m.

"He was having some sort of mental break," Gustafson said.

When another passenger confronted him, Gustafson said that passenger was stabbed twice.

The victim was taken to a hospital with serious injuries that did not appear life-threatening.

"Some of the other passengers basically subdued the suspect, and then the train pulled into the 600 South station, where UTA (police) took the suspect into custody," Gustafson said.

He explained that it was fairly busy at the time of the stabbing, and about a dozen people likely witnessed what happened. It was resolved in about 10 to 15 minutes because of the quick work of everyone involved.

"We had ordinary citizens getting involved in the situation so there's a lot of people who are due some gratitude," Gustafson said. "And certainly our police responding quickly right at the next stop for the train and taking him into custody quickly."

UTA had to take that train car out of commission so they could continue processing the crime scene, while trying to get transportation services back on track.

A bus bridge was put in place and Red, Blue, and Green Line trains all experienced significant delays in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing. It took more than an hour for regular service to resume, and about two hours for the delays to resolve.

Contributing: Joe Wirthlin, KSL

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