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OAKLAND, Calif. - A 32-year-old San Francisco man was arrested on attempted murder charges following the stabbing of two siblings at BART, prompting the closure the Oakland Coliseum Station, hours before a Warriors game.
BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost identified the suspect on Sunday as Robert Arlington Dolph. Efforts to reach him or his attorney were not immediately successful on Sunday.
Police say that on Saturday just before 3 p.m., Dolph, who was acting erratically and shouting things, stabbed a woman in her 60s and her brother in his 50s, as they got off their train in Oakland and were trying to leave through the fair gates.
The pair initially boarded a train at the South San Francisco Station, Trost said. Dolph boarded at the Civic Center Station and followed them.
At the fare gates, police say Dolph pulled out a knife and began stabbing the brother and sister in an attack that appears to have been unprovoked.
“It appears he was out of his mind,” BART Deputy Chief Lance Haight said on Sunday. “There doesn't appear to be any motive other than to do harm to these people.”
The siblings do not know him. And no motive was publicly revealed.
“They tried to get away from him and allude him as fast as they could,” Haight said. “They walked downstairs and tried to get out but by that time he was following them.”
Witness Michael Bertilacci, who was on his way to the Warriors game, told KTVU on Saturday that it was a crazy scene. He said he heard screams of "bloody murder" and saw "three dudes" on top of one guy, as a "lady was screaming and had blood all over her."
As the station agent called police, a good Samaritan wrestled the knife from Dolph and held him until officers arrived. “He is a hero,” Haight said. “Very courageous, had he not intervened quite possible the two victims could have been killed.” A second good Samaritan also helped hold Dolph down as he was handcuffed.
Bertilacci took some cell phone video at the scene, showing a man in a burgundy T-shirt kneeling over what appears to be a suspect and a police officer at his side.
The siblings were taken by ambulance to the hospital. At last check, Trost said the sister was in fair condition and her brother was in critical, but stable condition.
The entire ordeal left several passengers on edge.
“It just seems like there's more random acts going on these days,” said Steve Smiley of Dublin.
“I just feel like the world is getting worse and worse and we have to be more and more aware of our surroundings, just be really careful,” said Lori Hoehn of Concord.
Dolph was booked into Santa Rita jail in Dublin. The knife was recovered at the scene. The Coliseum station was closed for two hours during the investigation, and a bus bridge ended up taking many would-be riders to the Warriors game.
Dolph is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.
KTVU's Rob Malcom and Azenith Smith contributed to this report.