Man stabbed on SEPTA trolley in West Philadelphia, suspected arrested

SEPTA and Philadelphia police say they are examining surveillance video that shows a man stabbing another man on an eastbound trolley as it approached 40th Street early Sunday morning.

The 39-year-old victim was stabbed three times in the neck, shoulder and chest, according to police. He was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was listed Sunday morning in stable condition, a SEPTA spokesperson said.

The suspect, a 24-year-old male who fled the scene, was apprehended by police about 15 minutes later near Baltimore Avenue. His identity was not immediately available.

The attack occurred about 1:30 a.m. on the Route 36 trolley, and the motive remained unclear.

“As far as we know preliminarily, and we’re working with Philadelphia Police on this, it didn’t seem to be any kind of altercation leading up to the incident," SEPTA spokesman Andrew Bush said. "We’re reviewing the surveillance video and still have to make final determinations.”

Bush described the attack as a rare event. No information was immediately available on the occurrence of violent crimes on SEPTA vehicles.

“We’re running thousands of trips like this every day and hundreds of thousands of people on the system. This is rare, and, fortunately, police were able to get the suspect right away.”