Founder of Kensington anti-violence nonprofit arrested for knife attack on SEPTA train, authorities say

A well-known activist and founder of a Kensington anti-violence nonprofit was charged with aggravated assault and related crimes for attacking a woman with a box cutter during an argument on a SEPTA train last week, authorities said Thursday.

Rosalind “Roz” Pichardo, 48, was taken into custody days after the July 17 assault, which left the victim in critical condition with deep lacerations to her face and chest that required more than 70 stitches to close, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting the case.

Pichardo is the founder of Operation Save Our City, a nonprofit that offers social services to people who have experienced grief, addiction or trauma from exposure to violence, according to the group’s website. She also runs “Sunshine House,” a storefront on Kensington Avenue where people in addiction can drop in for meals, clothes, and other forms of support.

She has been involved with other anti-violence and victim services organizations throughout the city and has received at least two city grants for her work.

Last week, one day before the assault, Pichardo touted a $20,000 grant that Operation Save Our City received from the city’s Office of Public Safety.

And in 2024 and this year, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office awarded Pichardo’s organization $25,000 and $10,000 respectively through its violence prevention microgrant program.

Pichardo declined to comment Thursday. No attorney for her was listed in court documents.

Around 9 p.m. Friday on an eastbound SEPTA train near 8th and Market Streets, prosecutors say, Pichardo assaulted a woman with a box cutter. They said conflict began when the two women argued on a platform at the transit agency’s 15th Street station.

The victim told investigators Pichardo “got smart with her” after she asked a man who was blocking a platform bench to move so she could sit down, according to an affidavit of probable cause for Pichardo’s arrest. She said she, in turn, “got smart” with Pichardo.

During the spat, the victim said, Pichardo complained about “how rude young people are” and called her entitled for asking the man to move.

The women then boarded the train, where the argument continued, and they “both got in each other’s face and started fighting each other,” the woman told investigators, according to the affidavit.

At some point during the scuffle, Pichardo pulled out a box cutter and assaulted the woman, who told investigators she felt warmness on her face and felt “a lot of blood.”

The attack left the woman with severe lacerations on her cheeks and her chest that required 70 stitches and surgery to help her regain muscle movement, the documents said.

Pichardo was taken into custody by SEPTA transit police but released the same evening.

Investigators said technical issues initially prevented them from viewing surveillance footage captured within the train car, but they later recovered footage from an adjoining car that showed portions of the incident.

On Wednesday, Pichardo was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, simple assault, possessing an instrument of a crime, reckless endangerment, harassment, and disorderly conduct.

She was released from custody after posting 10% of $25,000 bail, court records show.

The case will be handled by the attorney general’s special prosecutor for mass transit, a position created by the legislature to address what Republican lawmakers said was the failure of District Attorney Larry Krasner to prosecute violent crimes on or near SEPTA properties.

A spokesperson for Krasner’s office declined to comment on the case and referred questions to the attorney general.

The spokesperson, Marisa Palmer, said violence prevention grants awarded by the district attorney’s office are vetted by an outside organization, the Philadelphia Foundation.

“We trust their professional guidance, integrity and recommendations in efforts to select grant awardees in the interest of reducing violence, prioritizing support for victims and achieving public safety in Philadelphia,” she said.

Pichardo appeared to address the matter in cryptic posts on Facebook, where she frequently promotes her activist work to her 23,000 followers.

On July 18, one day after the assault, she posted a photo of a SEPTA train car with the caption: “Lord please give me strength to get through this pain.”

And on Wednesday evening around 9 p.m., she updated followers: “I’m Good .. I’m Home and trusting the process . My head is up..”

In addition to founding Operation Save Our City in 2012 and later Sunshine House, Pichardo has worked as a lead educator with the harm reduction nonprofit Prevention Point and as a trauma victims advocate in Temple University Hospital’s emergency department.

Staff writers Ellie Rushing, Aubrey Whelan, and Jillian Kramer contributed to this article.