Police on Thursday continued to look for three suspects in connection with a stabbing aboard the Metro A Line that left one man dead Wednesday afternoon.
While the motive for the stabbing is still under investigation, police say that the deadly attack does not appear to be random.
Police say the victim boarded the train somewhere outside of Long Beach, and sometime after it entered the city, three unknown male suspects boarded the train and immediately approached him.
A fight began, and one of the suspects pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim multiple times, police said.
When the train came to a stop at the Downtown Long Beach station at First Street and Pine Avenue, the suspects exited and fled the area on foot, police said.
Witnesses at the scene said they were in disbelief as they watched the crime unfold.
Joveon Richardson, who was aboard the train when the stabbing occurred, said the fight started sometime around the time the train was near Fifth Street.
According to Richardson, he and a Metro worker tried breaking up the fight, but when one of the suspects pulled out a knife, Richardson backed off.
“Seven times they stabbed him, and seven times I told them to stop,” Richardson said, adding that the fight appeared to be over a woman.
Police said they were called to the scene around 3:40 p.m. When officers arrived, they found the man aboard the train suffering from multiple stab wounds to his upper body.
Paramedics removed him from the train and performed CPR before transporting the man to a local hospital where he died from his injuries, police said.
His identity was not immediately revealed pending notification of his next-of-kin, although authorities said he was a man in his 20s.
Police are asking anyone who witnessed the incident or has any existing cell phone video evidence to contact detectives at 562-570-7244.