A talented guitarist who frequently performs on downtown subway platforms was stabbed in the arm during an apparently unprovoked attack Tuesday afternoon in the Loop, according to Chicago police and online posts. Police took a woman in for questioning.
“Well….some crazy person tried to push me on the train tracks today,” the victim said on Facebook Tuesday evening. “Then [she] stabbed me with a huge kitchen knife…. I guess I’m pretty lucky.”
Police said the 26-year-old man was on the Jackson Red Line platform when an approximately 30-year-old woman walked up and began a verbal altercation at 1:35 p.m.
The woman then pulled out a knife, stabbed the man in his upper left arm, and fled, according to police. Arriving officers detained the woman and witnesses identified her as the attacker, police said.
An ambulance crew transported the victim to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition.
Witnesses reported seeing a broken kitchen knife on the subway platform after the attack.
It turns out that the guitarist now has more problems than the knife wound: “I destroyed my [sound gear] while I was bleeding out everywhere,” he said. “Stay safe guys.”
More Red Line robberies
Tuesday’s stabbing is only the latest piece of violence on the troubled Red Line train system downtown. At least four people were robbed on Loop and River North trains and platforms Thursday and Friday of last week:
- A CTA passenger reported that four male teenagers battered and robbed him at the Roosevelt Red Line station, 1167 South State, around 2 a.m. on Thursday. No arrests have been made.
- A 36-year-old man told police that a man and woman struck him in the head and robbed him as they rode a Red Line train near the Chicago station around 1:30 a.m. Friday. Charges have been filed against a Rockford man in that case.
- A woman reported that two men battered her and said they were going to rob her as they rode a southbound Red Line train near the Lake station at 4:20 a.m. Friday. Police arrested two men at the Cermak station minutes later. Misdemeanor charges have been filed.
- Another Red Line passenger flagged down police near Adams and State around 7:30 p.m. Friday to report that two male teenagers knocked him down and robbed him on the Red Line platform below. The offenders fled to street level and ran northbound on State Street, the victim said. No arrests have been made.
