A forty five-year-old man suspected of fatally stabbing a lady as she bought off a Metro prepare in North Hollywood had attacked a passenger as soon as earlier than, main a choose to order him to maintain his distance from the rail system for 3 years.
Elliot Tramel Nowden was arrested Monday not lengthy after a mortally wounded girl was discovered on the bottom on the Common Studios prepare platform, interim Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi introduced Tuesday throughout a Police Commissioners assembly.
“This incident is extraordinarily, extraordinarily tragic,” Choi stated.
In June 2019, Nowden was arrested and charged with attacking a passenger on a Metro prepare in Los Angeles County. He pleaded no contest, spent 5 days in jail and acquired a 36-month probation time period, based on court docket information.
Underneath the phrases of his probation, he was forbidden to own weapons or use drive or threaten violence. He was additionally ordered to keep away from Metro trains.
However only a few weeks later, Nowden appeared earlier than a choose on fees of assault with a lethal weapon and battery. He was sentenced to 4 years in state jail after pleading no contest to the assault cost, based on court docket information, and was given 179 days of credit score for time served.
Nowden was paroled to the Division of State Hospitals on March 18, 2022, throughout his jail sentence, based on a spokesperson for the California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was launched on parole supervision in August 2022 and discharged from parole in March 2023.
Most lately, Nowden was arrested for trespassing Jan. 31, based on LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman.
Authorities have launched few particulars about what led to Monday’s assault. Police stated the girl was stabbed within the throat shortly after 5 a.m. as she bought off the prepare. Her attacker bought off on the similar cease and ran away.
Individuals within the space discovered the girl and referred to as 911, authorities stated. Paramedics took her to an area hospital, the place she died from her accidents, based on the LAPD.
Roughly half-hour after the LAPD arrived on the prepare station, officers noticed an individual matching the outline of the suspect close to the intersection of Ventura Boulevard and Vineland Avenue.
The person, later recognized as Nowden, was detained by officers and interviewed by detectives with the Valley Bureau murder division. Nowden was arrested on suspicion of homicide after detectives reviewed the out there proof, based on the LAPD.
He’s being held on bail of $2 million.
Throughout Tuesday’s Police Fee assembly, Commissioner Maria Lou Calanche sought Choi’s assurance that there’s enough safety on Metro throughout early morning hours, when riders are typically of decrease earnings.
Choi responded that the division’s “deployment is strategic based mostly on crime tendencies and wishes.” He didn’t present particulars.
“It’s not only a flat deployment, simply to say that we’re deployed, so we check out crime tendencies as we have a look at ridership. We have a look at the exercise and deploy accordingly,” Choi added.
He stated that officers on trains, in prepare stations and on buses, together with the Metro system’s ambassadors, “are a directed effort to extend our presence in addition to the security on these traces.”
“Once more, we are able to’t be in all places on a regular basis,” Choi stated. The division tries to unfold out officers and have interaction with riders “to create a way of security and tackle crime tendencies or issues as they happen instantly and swiftly.”
Commissioner Vice President Rasha Gerges Shields stated Monday’s stabbing was “a really unlucky dying and what seems to be a really unprovoked assault on a lady.”
The LAPD described Nowden as a transient. Public information present that his final identified tackle was in Little Rock, Ark. He was a needed fugitive in Texas in November 2008, based on court docket information, and was beforehand charged in Bexar County, Texas, with theft and narcotic possession.
Nowden is being held in a Van Nuys jail, information present.
Investigators consider there could also be others who have been attacked by Nowden. Anybody with info can contact the LAPD’s Operations Valley Bureau Murder Detectives at (818) 374-9550.
Employees writers Richard Winton and James Queally contributed to this report.
