Watch CBS News

Suspect Charged With Attempted Murder For Stabbing At BART Station

OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A San Francisco man was charged Tuesday with two counts of attempted murder for allegedly stabbing a man and a woman at BART's Coliseum station in Oakland on Saturday afternoon, prosecutors said.

Robert Arlington Dolph, 32, was arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court and is scheduled to return to court on May 9 to enter a plea.

BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said the two victims, a 68-year-old woman and her brother, who's in his 50s, boarded a train at the South San Francisco station and Dolph, who was unknown to them, boarded the train at the Civic Center station in San Francisco and began acting erratically with verbal outbursts.

ALSO READ: 

When the victims got off the train at the Coliseum station at about 2:50 p.m. on Saturday Dolph followed them and as they approached the fare gates he pulled out a knife and began stabbing them in what appears to have been an unprovoked attack, according to Trost.

A station agent immediately called police and a good Samaritan intervened and held Dolph down until officers arrived two minutes later, Trost said.

That Good Samaritan, Oakland resident David Harris, also suffered cuts to his hands when he disarmed Dolph.

A second good Samaritan then arrived and also helped hold Dolph down as he was handcuffed, according to Trost.

The victims were taken by ambulance to a hospital, where initially the woman was listed in fair condition and her brother was listed in critical but stable condition.

The woman has since been released from the hospital, but her brother is still listed in critical condition.

BART police said the knife that Dolph allegedly used was recovered at the scene and he admitted his involvement in the stabbing when he was interviewed by investigators.

In addition to the two counts of attempted murder, Dolph is charged with two counts of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse.

Prosecutors say Dolph has prior convictions for maintaining a place for selling or using controlled substances and for possession of controlled substance precursor.

Dolph is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail.

© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.