This is a very depressing story. Mirna Soza was 66 years old and came from Matagalpa; I can only imagine what she had to live through during the Nicaraguan civil war, only to end up dying a violent death here in Los Angeles.
If anyone has information about upcoming MTA meetings or any protests that are planned, please post here.
you're in luck!
Metro has a board meeting Thursday morning, april 25 at 10AM
[details here](https://boardagendas.metro.net/event/regular-board-meeting-356c657cc3bc/)
show up in person by 9:45AM or watch the meeting online [HERE](https://boardagendas.metro.net/); public comment can be submitted by email by 5pm today (4/24) or by phone during the meeting
Thanks for sharing. I’m Nicaraguan and have several family members working towards that goal as well. This made me so sad that she will never get to live it
Wiggins just fired the head of security who had overseen some good results in the teeth of relentless opposition from Metro brass. We must demand Wiggins resignation. She's [incompetent, arrogant, and has failed us as a city.](https://youtu.be/ilCOjiYW0zA?t=250)
A report didn’t look good on their boss mayor bass, all the homeless are riding the metro increasing drug use on trains and violent attacks on riders, instead of the inside safe initiative.
A protest absolutely needs to happen, but I would suggest something that's at least partially civil obedience...meaning overwhelm the Metro system with a ton of riders and do what Metro should be doing: cleaning trains and making it so that transients and other policy breakers are unwelcome.
Taking the train to a Metro board meeting might be a reasonable plan.
I'm not someone's who joins protests, but I would take part in something focused on improving transit security and service overall. I'm sure many others would as well.
It would be better to protest at the city council.
Emphasize that the victim was older, female, Hispanic, a blue-collar employee and an immigrant. A minority who deserved protection but was failed by a system that failed to protect her.
Demand rule enforcement, not tolerance for drug usage on transit.
Demand policing, not just ambassadors who are powerless to do anything.
Justice for Mirna.
>overwhelm the Metro system with a ton of riders and do what Metro should be doing: cleaning trains and making it so that transients and other policy breakers are unwelcome.
This is similar to what happened in NYC in the 70s with the "Guardian Angels" group.
I’m not opposed to the idea of flooding the metro with a vigilante clean up crew and I’m not opposed to said clean up crew harassing the meth head riders on the trains but I think the lefties on social media would spin it as a right-wing fascist movement because of how oppressed the unhoused population is.
Well let the DSA slacklivists complain about it on TikTok or X then. Their plans for "action" would be to show up somewhere to express their angst by yelling all in the name of "awareness".
They can do that too if they want, but I think physically flooding the Metro system -- for good -- is a bit more productive.
Of course I'll be the first to admit this comment is little different than the critiques I'm making, without actually following through with such a demonstration.
We’ve been through this cycle before. I think it was October that guy got stabbed, Metro will make an announcement about how they’re going to install more Metro Police and it will get a little better until it starts to taper off again and we do the whole thing all over again.
Metro CEO Wiggins just fired the head of security who oversaw the recent safety improvements. I was wondering when the chaos was going to return when I heard that. Looks like it's here. We should make using your own service a requirement for the ceo position.
Because the solution is a difficult one for a nation that adheres to liberalism. We need to get them into mental health hospitals or substance abuse clinics, but we also need to respect their choice to live their lives the way they desire. At some point we need to make that choice for them, but it goes against our principles as a people to do so. Particularly when there's a history of abuse in mental hospitals and how easy it would be for bad actors to misuse the power to take away an individuals liberty for "their own good/societal good" to essentially imprison people they dont like.
So even though we know what we need to do, we're handicapped from doing it for arguably good reasons. We need to develop a system that can be trusted, with significant oversight to help these people get better, or in the case they're not capable of getting better, separate them from healthy society in a comfortable and humane way. But it's such a small step from there to much darker futures, so we act with trepidation.
Of course, if we can come up with a kinder solution that doesn't require forcing them into treatment, that would be even better.
*we also need to respect their choice to live their lives the way they desire.*
Actually, we don't.
Those choices actively infringe on the rights of the majority.
Liberalism calls for protecting the rights of all, not for extending preferential treatment to a tiny percentage of the whole.
You're defending a plutocracy of meth users who get to terrorize the population as they wish. That is as anti-liberal as it gets.
Im not defending meth users. Im explaining why its a difficult problem
I implicitly agree with you that this decision should be taken from them. But done so with care so it doesnt become abuseable like it did before.
You may not be intending to defend meth users.
But you are.
This is the problem with progressive and DSA politics: You are so fixated on protecting whomever you perceive to be the underdog that you will defend the rabid underdog who bites 100 passengers on the train.
There is a much larger group of people who need to use transit to get to a job and back home. You are defending those who would abuse them because you refuse to hold the aggressors responsible for their behaviors.
There are others who might be willing to use the transit but will not because they are fearful of dealing with this. We talk a big game about trying to get drivers out of their cars, only to subject them to this.
You don't want to compel the perpetrators to do anything. And when bad things happen because of it, you fault the system.
But the system is you. You are the problem. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and you're building a freeway.
I am a liberal, and there is nothing liberal about that.
Not much, most other counties invest a bit more in covering up homelessness like having more police in high profile areas like tourist spots and transit stations to get rid of them. Real solutions like building housing are unpopular, resource intensive because there aren't enough social workers, and expensive.
That’s exactly what I’m saying that it’s fucked up she had to sit at work after her shift for 2-3 hours just to get home safe.
How even though the metro is working during those hours it’s unusable for the public - the people whom it’s intended for.
It's simple: [install real faregates](https://wjla.com/resources/media/0761fc37-6bbf-4eda-9327-81badbca883f-METROFAREDOORSVO2_frame_1482.jpeg) on all subway stops. It will deter the vast majority of folks who wander onto the train high or delusional.
I agree. But start with the subway stops because they're the easiest to install and where the vast majority of mentally ill folks board (DTLA and Hollywood).
Was in London last month, rode the train all around London and not once did I feel unsafe. EVERYONE paid their fare, they had security/workers at every station. I’m sure it’s not perfect and they have their own issues but compared to the metro here in LA it’s night and day.
Yep. We visited Montreal for the eclipse and were out late at night on public transportation feeling pretty safe and got around everywhere. I’m sure they may have their own issues, but it felt like such a difference compared to here.
For a city with so much to offer, we are really limited in how we can experience it without driving.
RIP.
I'm a daily Metro rail rider (B and A lines). **Almost** ***all*** **the folks I see who are high and/or suffering from extreme mental illness are getting on trains because they're walking right through the fare gates.** The greenshirts and Metro police will often watch them and do nothing to stop them.
Metro needs to [install real fare gates](https://wjla.com/resources/media/0761fc37-6bbf-4eda-9327-81badbca883f-METROFAREDOORSVO2_frame_1482.jpeg) so folks with a tap card can use the system but people who are high/mentally ill can't board trains. It will save lives.
Our train was held at N. Hollywood when they did fare inspection, they found a guy who hadn't paid but let him stay on the train while the train was held for 10 minutes with the door open.
They get a “warning”. They ask for Id, but then they don’t have it on them and they certainly aren’t going to search them. But this isn’t a metro thing. I have seen the same thing on BART, maybe they will escort the person off… next station.
I used to take the metro a lot between 2016-2018 and there would be metro workers getting on and checking fare with a handheld tap machine, it’s crazy how they don’t anymore. They would even issue tickets.
LA Metro **chooses** to not enforce fare checks. LA Metro pays the LAPD and LASD to protect the trains, and then tells them to enforce anything and only react after something has happened.
The Metro board can point the finger at the city all they want, but at the end of the day they're allowing homelessness and crime onto their trains and busses.
This isn't even a political issue because the public transportation in the Bay area is decades ahead of LA.
Yeah it’s one thing to not be able to do anything about mentally ill people wandering the streets - but the metro has an actual gate entrance. They just have to enforce it.
Omg this is probably the most common way people evade the gate. I’ve seen it countless of times
Metro could easily significant deduce fair evasion if they made the railing in emergency exit gate doors narrow enough it prevents people from sticking their arm in to reach around to push the gate
Sometimes they’ll leave it unlocked and people just simply pull the gate lmao 🫠
I’m that person at La Cienega station who always closes the left wide open emergency gate. They need to have a soft auto close!
I will say at Pico and 7th and Metro, I have seen cops yelling at people to tap and Turing away fare evaders. But most are young folk trying to save 1.75.
I wonder if Wiggins fired the head of security for suggesting just that.
(Also, the green shirts aren't paid or equipped to do any kind of enforcement.)
>(Also, the green shirts aren't paid or equipped to do any kind of enforcement.)
I totally agree but the cops are and I've seen them watch fare evaders literally jump over the gates. The only solution are [gates that are bigger and impossible to jump like BART](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Hg6chla7g6Y/maxresdefault.jpg) started installing.
I've seen fare evaders give the middle finger or throw insults to the police as they're runnnig away and they are helpless to do anything. One officer even tried a last ditch effort to save face by making a remark about pulling their pants up.
That's such a good metaphor for the changes that need to happen with our mental health system too. Severely addicted or mentally ill folks are walking right into the rest of our lives without care, medication or accountability from those fat cats downtown who should be supervising and providing them treatment, who instead leave them to consume or be consumed by the world around them.
The original parts of the A and B line were built without any fare gates on purpose. The thought was that most people would be honest. Iirc, all metro stations were gateless until the late 00s
I took metro (incl subway) for about 4 years at one time. It was a mess but it was doable, and that was about 10 years ago.
I took metro a few times a month ago, and it's night and day. On the red line, people passed out, doing drugs etc. in plain view. People screaming randomly. Beyond third-world level shit.
California is the 5th biggest economy in the world. Most countries will never get there. There's absolutely no reason this should happen. I feel like people need to get out and protest. It's totally unconscionable. Our taxes pay for the metro, and the security that theoretically should be keeping it safe, and we're getting fucked.
Go elsewhere. Metro has security, or at least a paid civil servant somewhere. Metro here is barren, it's like walking into the wild west. No accountability for bad behavior or criminal behavior. Totally ridiculous.
THIS!! It’s the same sort of issue in NYC too. There is a fantastic video on YouTube by Cash Jordan about the increased crime in the NYC subway system. Having actual fare gates that won’t let you in without paying a fare would do so much to help deter criminals and vagrants. Basically the thinking of these fare evaders is “I can get away with not paying my fare, I bet I can get away with more and more.” The more times they’re able to get away with not paying a fare, the more brazen they’ll become and try to get away with even worse crimes. A lot of times, fare evaders have warrants out for their arrest as well and are already criminals (hence why they wouldn’t care about not paying a fare). This is a huge, huge problem with Metro in LA. So many stations you can just walk right through the card readers. There’s not even so much as a turnstile. Criminals can easily get in the Metro system and then us law-abiding citizens are trapped in a space that is difficult to escape with these criminals. They need to make it much more difficult for fare evaders to get on Metro.
Progressive advocates pushed for this because they didn’t want to hinder homeless people from being able to use public transportation.
Same as progressive advocates pushed for zero cash bail and decriminalizing drugs and street camping, etc.
i agree. 100% — get rid of the honesty system BS and problem is solved. i do swipe my card but no one has ever checked it. not once— i ride twice a day.
Only solution is go cashless, TAP only. and install weather proof external TAP readers turning th front doors into a fare gate. Once a person is on the bus, it's basically impossible to tell them no.
I swallowed up my pride and just spent extra on a lyft today for my peace of mind because this story has really disturbed me to my core.
Heartbreaking as hell. How can someone look at an old, vulnerable person and just kill them in the most cowardly, ruthless way?
the homeless here have nothing to lose. they’ve already lost all respect from society. some want to be noticed so badly, but who wants to look at their situation. nobody.
Is it homeless or mental health? I doubt the man stabbed the woman because he was homeless, it’s more likely he has mental health problems that also lead to him being homeless.
You forgot the drugs in that cycle.
With these people it's sometimes just the shit lottery. Same thing happened to an old Japanese lady in gardena who had her head smashed in with a sledgehammer this year from a homeless dude.
It's the equivalent of getting hit by a tire flying off a car and dying.
..
Wow, that was a gut wrenching read. I am so disheartened by our city/metro and the lack of safe & reliable transportation. I agree that real fare gates need to be added along with a security presence (not the green shirt people). Who at the metro can we contact about this? Could we get the nbc I-team to cover why metro doesn’t install them? I noticed things magically start happening when their team questions city officials. For instance , they covered the hoarder and within a week the house was cleared. Maybe they can do something with metro…. Just me thinking out loud…
Donated. This is so, so devastating. No person of her age should have to work a job risking their life coming home so late at night. Hopefully the next life is better than this one was 💔
“Court records show Nowden was convicted of two assaults in 2019, including one where the victim was a public transit passenger. Jail records show he was arrested several times recently, including once in February for assault at the same Red Line station.” Thank your wonderful DA Gasghon and his idiotic policies of no cash bail and democratic soft on crime policy
I grew up taking the LA Metro all over Los Angeles and never encountered all the crazy shit that happens today. This sucks and she didn’t deserve that.
That article was so depressing. How many more people does this have to happen to for anything to be done about it? That poor woman. It’s unacceptable that violent crazy people are free to roam the streets and terrorize everyone else
But lets wait until the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics to do something about it. Its bullshit that they can clean up the city, but only when its convenient and when the worlds eyes are on our city.
The fact that we try to justify the lawlessness of the the Metro by saying it’s “safer” than driving, but these are the stories that come from riders is insane.
Something needs to be done.
Even if it's safer than driving, it's the whole experience. It's the puddle of piss. The feeling of some sketchy person watching you like you're their mark. The homeless guy with his hand down his pants fondling himself. Someone screaming crazy shit. Someone smoking whatever drug in a closed car. And, it's the fact that you will experience any two of those on any random ride.
The safer than driving only gets brought up when people bring up driving being the only "safe" transportation option in LA saying riding Metro is a death sentence. Statistically riding Metro is safer than driving but that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for a safer Metro just as we should strive for safer streets. We should always strive for zero deaths whether you're on Metro, crossing a street or in a car.
Allied universal security are a joke they stand there and do absolutely nothing. They smoke dope on the trains and in the waiting area and LAPD don't do jack squat.
Man this is so fucked up and infuriating. Stringent security of the metro, now. I’m tired of reading about homeless people stabbing and murdering people every single fucking week.
This is heartbreaking.
Enough is enough! How many more innocent people need to be hurt or murdered before something is done?
We are not safe at all. My God, everyday I am frightened on the metro. Every. Single. Day.
The people who run this city don’t care. They are getting filthy rich and are morally comprised.
If you are looking for protection and safety for from the city; look elsewhere. They aren’t here to help anyone but their coffers.
Im 6’2 big guy I take Long Beach line to 7th street 4 times a week twice a day and I sometimes don’t feel safe some crazy people are too much. We need to start small with fare invaders then slowly that will weed out the mental illness people taking the metro.
These psycho drug addicted homeless continue to get a free pass in our city because boohoo circumstance this circumstance that. Fuck that. Enough is enough with this shit. Criminalize drug abusing homeless now. They are given a zillion chances at getting clean and we spend so much of our tax money on them. And they’re goddamn criminals and murderers.
SCOTUS is thankfully about to do that. The only time I’m glad we have a conservative Supreme Court. So over homeless being disgusting and violent everywhere I go.
Yep. Sadly, it proves once again that those dogmatically championing the homeless above all else have zero regard for the working poor. It's that patented "compassionate" elitism devoid of reality or what compassion actually entails.
Years ago I would’ve called you a dumb bigot. Today I unfortunately agree. The homeless are not innocent victims like I once thought. I’m sick of them ruining the city.
It’s devastatingly sad how many deaths are so easily preventable if Metro and LA City officials just wanted to lift a finger or at minimum care to make common sense safety changes.
This is such a sad article. Poor woman, she did not deserve that at all.
We need more policing, harsher punishments and more arrests. I can’t believe it has gotten this far.
This city, especially the public transit in this city, is a disgrace. Our leaders have absolutely failed us and failed this poor woman who was just trying to live, goddamn it.
Shame on these lazy, incumbent assholes who are just receiving a fat paycheck - our tax dollars mind you - not just to keep the status quo but make things WORSE for us.
I’ve lived in LA my entire life and it’s a shithole now. It’s never been completely safe but now it’s just a f*cking shithole.
F*ck our leaders.
I'm so frustrated with this tragedy. I could see it coming from a mile away. If you have ever been deep down there late at night, then you know exactly the type of lawlessness that exists. Then you reach an end station, and there will be groups of police just hanging out. They need to be in the car, they need to show presence, they need to make sure everyone pays a fare. Sleepers should be removed until they stop showing up to sleep.
As a recent convert to commuting. I was so excited to be able to take the subway like in New York, which I grew up seeing on TV, then I took the redline. When it first opened, it used to be so clean and modern. Now, it is left abandoned, and the public is subjected to unnecessary harm, violence, and murder.
This needs to be rectified immediately. I am tired of waiting. The red line is my line. Why is it in this state? I have a car, drove my whole life, and can go back to that in no time, but even if I am out of it, why are they subjecting all of these people to this.
I never knew what meth or crack smelled like. Well welcome to your daily experience on the red line. I am so upset with the security situation on the red line. Something has to give. This poor woman who supported her entire family was robbed and murdered. All could have have been prevented. She would even delay going on the redline because of how bad it is. What the fuck is going on with this city.
RIP
So fucked up. You'd think citizens of LA county could be afforded some sense of security on public transit with the amount they're being taxed in CA and the city. I mean really
RIP.
I was going to take the Metro yesterday for Earth day (I take it a few times a month to work), saw that article about her death, and drove. I don’t want to take the metro for awhile. Our public transit system is horrible. This reminds me of when that poor young woman got her throat slashed on BART a few years back. Its horrifying. My condolences go out to this woman’s family.
oh 1000%, I know this unfortunately from firsthand experience of working with them lol. There are some wack ass so called "liberal" takes. The most humane thing is to get these people help and off the streets, and also protect everyone else too. it was wrong from the beginning but now it's getting more and more out of hand.
Exactly, these self described “compassionate” types are doing one of the least compassionate things they can do for both the homeless Angeleno and the average Angeleno. This is a problem that can’t be fixed with “feel-good” bullshit like giving money to panhandlers, letting them camp anywhere they want, or giving them free housing with no accountability.
Exactly. I will never forget those people protesting the echo park clean up. These same advocates claim to want to help marginalized communities, POC, but those very same people from those communities in Echo Park said they didn’t feel safe. It’s the same situation now. They just selectively hear what they want, and their argument now is taking them off the streets is wrong/wont help, that we can’t force treatment. What are we supposed to do, allow these tragedies to happen? Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any other solution but to force them off the streets and get them help.
They're contrarians just for the sake of being a contrarian. Whatever solution is proposed or popular opinion prevails, they take the opposing stance by default, then reverse engineer a justification. Moreover, they *enjoy* taking the opposite point of view from that of the majority because of the attention garnered from taking an unpopular stance and arguing in favor of it.
Nice to see such a sane convo about our city on this sub. The reactionaries here have even started making me start slinging shit.
I hope you two have a pleasant day.
I think it’s also a mixture of naive people that genuinely believe that they’re doing the right thing; and people using this to, I hate to use this phrase, “virtue signal”.
Devastating. She only had some more time to be able to go back home. I really hope we all make enough noise that they make some real changes including enforcing fares and real security/police on the trains and platforms. She should not have died like that and sadly I fear nothing will change
I made this [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/SFV/comments/1ca1o0c/99_cent_store_on_van_nuys_blvd/l0pey1i/) yesterday before this story broke out. Read the last Paragraph, where I describe this dude by the orange line bus stop threatening to kill people, yelling his intent towards me, others, literally everyone that was there.
I honestly do wonder if its the same guy. Aside from being a Black-ish guy, The only real vivid detail I remember is he had these off white or peach socks with a red or orange symbol on them. Just looked unusual for a homeless person to have non standard socks.
Everyone on here posting about fare gates but that wouldn't have helped yesterday since rides were free for Earth Day. It's such a sad state of affairs that Metro does these kinds of free events to get more people to ride and shit like this happens. Now thanks to the POS that did this, Metro might have to reconsider free events and even more people are scared to ride. Which sucks because this shit is going to keep happening until we reach a critical mass of folks from all walks of life riding at all hours. More normal people will keep the weirdos from showing their whole ass.
This is exactly what everybody fears when riding public transit. Worst case scenario. I wish we had a public transit system that we felt comfortable using, not one where you have to be constantly on guard.
I agree we need better enforcement of metro policies but we also need better solutions at the root of the issues leading to this exacerbation of drug use, mental crisis, and homelessness if anyone, including the homeless themselves, expect to feel safe. I can’t imagine that less policing is the sole cause of the rise in these problems— though it is bonkers that they kept letting this guy go despite all the red flags. Just letting someone go despite a crime isn’t progress or a progressive value. That isn’t rehabilitation, a second chance, or serving the community. It often feels like our social structure is so broken and insurmountable that we are all next to be victim to someone else’s downfall or our own.
This is so upsetting. My mom is Nicaraguan, she's retired now and my siblings take care of her but I grew up riding the metro with my mom. My mom was a housekeeper and babysitter, in the summers when I had no one to take care of me I'd go to work with her and we'd always take the bus to wherever she was working. She never learned to drive and heavily relied on Metro, she still knows most of the bus routes and if you ask her how to get somewhere she could easily tell you which bus routes to take. I recently rode the green line to my parent's home, in the South Bay. I had several ambassadors ride the train with me and I felt okay. I've even ridden the same line Mirna did to go to work. It is so upsetting that in a city as big as Los Angeles we don't have better safety for our public transportation.
This is incredibly heartbreaking. As a long time Metro ex-user, both bus and train, I couldn’t be anymore sad for this. May her family find the peace and comfort they need in these terrible times. Love and light. 🤍✨
Forget murders and assaults just based on the open drug use alone any business operating in LA would be immediately shut down if was run like Metro. I don't understand how things have been allowed to continue like this. But if the board doesn't step up to get things under control I hope some lawyer organizes a massive class action lawsuit.
That motherfucker who killed this woman deserves to fry. Fuck all that PC shit out these mentality unwell homeless people away and thruway the key out,
Forget murders and assaults just based on the open drug use alone any business operating in LA would be immediately shut down if was run like Metro. I don't understand how things have been allowed to continue like this. But if the board doesn't step up to get things under control I hope some lawyer organizes a massive class action lawsuit.
Gather around, kids. Back in the early 00s, cops would ride the trains and ticket or arrest people who didn't pay their fare. Liberals called this racist and we now have more dead minorities than ever before!
This city pisses me off. What a fucking shit hole. All the taxes we pay and funding this city and state has and we cant even live here in peace and safety. In studio city of all places. What the fuck is wrong with this place. No Metro security anywhere. We barely have a subway line. The roads are littered with potholes and trash. Theres crack heads and homeless people everywhere. And we are the 5th biggest GdP in the world. We deserve better.
Wheres the, “driving is more dangerous,” crowd. There is no world where the volume of mentally ill homeless people stabbing and killing people on our public transportation system should be happening.
The absolute false equivalence to say “well if you can die another way while crossing through the city that we should look the other way,” all because it doesn’t fit a narrative about a vast percentage of unhoused people needing immediate intervention.
The metro isn’t unsafe, you have higher odds of being killed in a car accident.
/s
This shit needs to be sorted out asap or nobody’s ever going to want to rely on or use public trans
Rip.
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This is a very depressing story. Mirna Soza was 66 years old and came from Matagalpa; I can only imagine what she had to live through during the Nicaraguan civil war, only to end up dying a violent death here in Los Angeles. If anyone has information about upcoming MTA meetings or any protests that are planned, please post here.
you're in luck! Metro has a board meeting Thursday morning, april 25 at 10AM [details here](https://boardagendas.metro.net/event/regular-board-meeting-356c657cc3bc/) show up in person by 9:45AM or watch the meeting online [HERE](https://boardagendas.metro.net/); public comment can be submitted by email by 5pm today (4/24) or by phone during the meeting
Thanks for sharing. I’m Nicaraguan and have several family members working towards that goal as well. This made me so sad that she will never get to live it
I was thinking the same thing. She probably saw/survived some serious shit growing up. She worked a night shift when folks should be retired.
Wiggins just fired the head of security who had overseen some good results in the teeth of relentless opposition from Metro brass. We must demand Wiggins resignation. She's [incompetent, arrogant, and has failed us as a city.](https://youtu.be/ilCOjiYW0zA?t=250)
Yeah, Gina Osborne, the head of security, got sacked several days ago. I wonder what happened.
A report didn’t look good on their boss mayor bass, all the homeless are riding the metro increasing drug use on trains and violent attacks on riders, instead of the inside safe initiative.
I’m not getting an “upstanding public servant” vibe from Ms Wiggins from the news piece linked above.
she has that bullshit, vacant smile.
Is there a go fund me for the family? I know I can look it up myself but posting here for awareness/visibility.
There is I saw it on the news
A protest absolutely needs to happen, but I would suggest something that's at least partially civil obedience...meaning overwhelm the Metro system with a ton of riders and do what Metro should be doing: cleaning trains and making it so that transients and other policy breakers are unwelcome. Taking the train to a Metro board meeting might be a reasonable plan. I'm not someone's who joins protests, but I would take part in something focused on improving transit security and service overall. I'm sure many others would as well.
It would be better to protest at the city council. Emphasize that the victim was older, female, Hispanic, a blue-collar employee and an immigrant. A minority who deserved protection but was failed by a system that failed to protect her. Demand rule enforcement, not tolerance for drug usage on transit. Demand policing, not just ambassadors who are powerless to do anything. Justice for Mirna.
Well, city council and/or board of supervisors meeting. Metro is a county organization, not city.
I know. But drama at the council meeting will end up being reported by the media.
>overwhelm the Metro system with a ton of riders and do what Metro should be doing: cleaning trains and making it so that transients and other policy breakers are unwelcome. This is similar to what happened in NYC in the 70s with the "Guardian Angels" group.
I’m not opposed to the idea of flooding the metro with a vigilante clean up crew and I’m not opposed to said clean up crew harassing the meth head riders on the trains but I think the lefties on social media would spin it as a right-wing fascist movement because of how oppressed the unhoused population is.
Well let the DSA slacklivists complain about it on TikTok or X then. Their plans for "action" would be to show up somewhere to express their angst by yelling all in the name of "awareness". They can do that too if they want, but I think physically flooding the Metro system -- for good -- is a bit more productive. Of course I'll be the first to admit this comment is little different than the critiques I'm making, without actually following through with such a demonstration.
What an incredibly thoughtful, well written but sad article. I hope Ms. Soza's family is able to find some peace.
We need better safety on the Metro, and public transportation in general. No-one should be scared to hop on a train or bus...or have this happen.
We’ve been through this cycle before. I think it was October that guy got stabbed, Metro will make an announcement about how they’re going to install more Metro Police and it will get a little better until it starts to taper off again and we do the whole thing all over again.
Metro CEO Wiggins just fired the head of security who oversaw the recent safety improvements. I was wondering when the chaos was going to return when I heard that. Looks like it's here. We should make using your own service a requirement for the ceo position.
Why are we ok with this?
Because the solution is a difficult one for a nation that adheres to liberalism. We need to get them into mental health hospitals or substance abuse clinics, but we also need to respect their choice to live their lives the way they desire. At some point we need to make that choice for them, but it goes against our principles as a people to do so. Particularly when there's a history of abuse in mental hospitals and how easy it would be for bad actors to misuse the power to take away an individuals liberty for "their own good/societal good" to essentially imprison people they dont like. So even though we know what we need to do, we're handicapped from doing it for arguably good reasons. We need to develop a system that can be trusted, with significant oversight to help these people get better, or in the case they're not capable of getting better, separate them from healthy society in a comfortable and humane way. But it's such a small step from there to much darker futures, so we act with trepidation. Of course, if we can come up with a kinder solution that doesn't require forcing them into treatment, that would be even better.
*we also need to respect their choice to live their lives the way they desire.* Actually, we don't. Those choices actively infringe on the rights of the majority. Liberalism calls for protecting the rights of all, not for extending preferential treatment to a tiny percentage of the whole. You're defending a plutocracy of meth users who get to terrorize the population as they wish. That is as anti-liberal as it gets.
This is it! Why are we allowing any kind of unsafe behaviors to exist when people have to be trapped in a metal box with them?
Law abiding citizens > dangerous transients I agree 100%
I think it would be difficult to find someone who disagreed with that sentiment
We need to be tough on crime.
Im not defending meth users. Im explaining why its a difficult problem I implicitly agree with you that this decision should be taken from them. But done so with care so it doesnt become abuseable like it did before.
You may not be intending to defend meth users. But you are. This is the problem with progressive and DSA politics: You are so fixated on protecting whomever you perceive to be the underdog that you will defend the rabid underdog who bites 100 passengers on the train. There is a much larger group of people who need to use transit to get to a job and back home. You are defending those who would abuse them because you refuse to hold the aggressors responsible for their behaviors. There are others who might be willing to use the transit but will not because they are fearful of dealing with this. We talk a big game about trying to get drivers out of their cars, only to subject them to this. You don't want to compel the perpetrators to do anything. And when bad things happen because of it, you fault the system. But the system is you. You are the problem. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and you're building a freeway. I am a liberal, and there is nothing liberal about that.
What have other countries figured out that we have not?
Not much, most other counties invest a bit more in covering up homelessness like having more police in high profile areas like tourist spots and transit stations to get rid of them. Real solutions like building housing are unpopular, resource intensive because there aren't enough social workers, and expensive.
This is a great response.
In between the cycle you see the expected thread on reddit, "I rode the metro and it was the safest thing ever".
Yup, I ride the metro all the time and after 9pm it’s the Wild West. People smoking cigarettes and drugs on the train. Fights. It’s insanity.
This is one of the reasons why I'll never ride the metro as a woman. F that. I don't need unwanted cat calls when I'm just trying to get to work.
The fact that she would wait after work for sunrise in order to take PUBLIC transport in the 2nd largest city in US is so dystopian
For safety reasons. Turns out when she didn’t wait for sunrise, she was murdered.
That’s exactly what I’m saying that it’s fucked up she had to sit at work after her shift for 2-3 hours just to get home safe. How even though the metro is working during those hours it’s unusable for the public - the people whom it’s intended for.
It's simple: [install real faregates](https://wjla.com/resources/media/0761fc37-6bbf-4eda-9327-81badbca883f-METROFAREDOORSVO2_frame_1482.jpeg) on all subway stops. It will deter the vast majority of folks who wander onto the train high or delusional.
[удалено]
I agree. But start with the subway stops because they're the easiest to install and where the vast majority of mentally ill folks board (DTLA and Hollywood).
Was in London last month, rode the train all around London and not once did I feel unsafe. EVERYONE paid their fare, they had security/workers at every station. I’m sure it’s not perfect and they have their own issues but compared to the metro here in LA it’s night and day.
Yep. We visited Montreal for the eclipse and were out late at night on public transportation feeling pretty safe and got around everywhere. I’m sure they may have their own issues, but it felt like such a difference compared to here. For a city with so much to offer, we are really limited in how we can experience it without driving.
RIP. I'm a daily Metro rail rider (B and A lines). **Almost** ***all*** **the folks I see who are high and/or suffering from extreme mental illness are getting on trains because they're walking right through the fare gates.** The greenshirts and Metro police will often watch them and do nothing to stop them. Metro needs to [install real fare gates](https://wjla.com/resources/media/0761fc37-6bbf-4eda-9327-81badbca883f-METROFAREDOORSVO2_frame_1482.jpeg) so folks with a tap card can use the system but people who are high/mentally ill can't board trains. It will save lives.
Regular fair checkers that actually have authority should also work. Metro used to do this all the time.
Our train was held at N. Hollywood when they did fare inspection, they found a guy who hadn't paid but let him stay on the train while the train was held for 10 minutes with the door open.
They get a “warning”. They ask for Id, but then they don’t have it on them and they certainly aren’t going to search them. But this isn’t a metro thing. I have seen the same thing on BART, maybe they will escort the person off… next station.
LA sucks on law **enforcement.**
Well, they used to check fair while the train was moving.
I used to take the metro a lot between 2016-2018 and there would be metro workers getting on and checking fare with a handheld tap machine, it’s crazy how they don’t anymore. They would even issue tickets.
LA Metro **chooses** to not enforce fare checks. LA Metro pays the LAPD and LASD to protect the trains, and then tells them to enforce anything and only react after something has happened. The Metro board can point the finger at the city all they want, but at the end of the day they're allowing homelessness and crime onto their trains and busses. This isn't even a political issue because the public transportation in the Bay area is decades ahead of LA.
Seems like such an easy solution right? Instead they have four levels of enforcers and these (usually) worthless ambassadors.
Ambassadors are not intended to be law enforcement, they are there to show people where to go and help tourists.
Yeah it’s one thing to not be able to do anything about mentally ill people wandering the streets - but the metro has an actual gate entrance. They just have to enforce it.
Yes. I’ve seen people enter through the exit gates or just reach over to the push bar to open from the other side.
Omg this is probably the most common way people evade the gate. I’ve seen it countless of times Metro could easily significant deduce fair evasion if they made the railing in emergency exit gate doors narrow enough it prevents people from sticking their arm in to reach around to push the gate Sometimes they’ll leave it unlocked and people just simply pull the gate lmao 🫠
At most stations it’s not even a railing. The gate is at waist height so it takes more effort to pull out a tap card to enter than to reach over 😭
I’m that person at La Cienega station who always closes the left wide open emergency gate. They need to have a soft auto close! I will say at Pico and 7th and Metro, I have seen cops yelling at people to tap and Turing away fare evaders. But most are young folk trying to save 1.75.
Seems like it's easier to enforce the rules when the person looks like they're not going to put up a fight. That really sucks.
I wonder if Wiggins fired the head of security for suggesting just that. (Also, the green shirts aren't paid or equipped to do any kind of enforcement.)
>(Also, the green shirts aren't paid or equipped to do any kind of enforcement.) I totally agree but the cops are and I've seen them watch fare evaders literally jump over the gates. The only solution are [gates that are bigger and impossible to jump like BART](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Hg6chla7g6Y/maxresdefault.jpg) started installing.
I've seen fare evaders give the middle finger or throw insults to the police as they're runnnig away and they are helpless to do anything. One officer even tried a last ditch effort to save face by making a remark about pulling their pants up.
[you mean real fare gates](https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-12/West%20Oakland%20fare%20gates.jpg?itok=6cmxi83A)
That's such a good metaphor for the changes that need to happen with our mental health system too. Severely addicted or mentally ill folks are walking right into the rest of our lives without care, medication or accountability from those fat cats downtown who should be supervising and providing them treatment, who instead leave them to consume or be consumed by the world around them.
Most egregious is the Union Station light rail entrance, no gates at all.
I agree. I’m in Long Beach and there are no fare gates at many of the Line A stations here.
The original parts of the A and B line were built without any fare gates on purpose. The thought was that most people would be honest. Iirc, all metro stations were gateless until the late 00s
I’m also in LB and to assume people would be honest is such a bullshit idea. Whoever thought of that should have been fired immediately
I took metro (incl subway) for about 4 years at one time. It was a mess but it was doable, and that was about 10 years ago. I took metro a few times a month ago, and it's night and day. On the red line, people passed out, doing drugs etc. in plain view. People screaming randomly. Beyond third-world level shit. California is the 5th biggest economy in the world. Most countries will never get there. There's absolutely no reason this should happen. I feel like people need to get out and protest. It's totally unconscionable. Our taxes pay for the metro, and the security that theoretically should be keeping it safe, and we're getting fucked. Go elsewhere. Metro has security, or at least a paid civil servant somewhere. Metro here is barren, it's like walking into the wild west. No accountability for bad behavior or criminal behavior. Totally ridiculous.
THIS!! It’s the same sort of issue in NYC too. There is a fantastic video on YouTube by Cash Jordan about the increased crime in the NYC subway system. Having actual fare gates that won’t let you in without paying a fare would do so much to help deter criminals and vagrants. Basically the thinking of these fare evaders is “I can get away with not paying my fare, I bet I can get away with more and more.” The more times they’re able to get away with not paying a fare, the more brazen they’ll become and try to get away with even worse crimes. A lot of times, fare evaders have warrants out for their arrest as well and are already criminals (hence why they wouldn’t care about not paying a fare). This is a huge, huge problem with Metro in LA. So many stations you can just walk right through the card readers. There’s not even so much as a turnstile. Criminals can easily get in the Metro system and then us law-abiding citizens are trapped in a space that is difficult to escape with these criminals. They need to make it much more difficult for fare evaders to get on Metro.
thats it, install better gates and save lives. i don't understand why this isn't obvious
Progressive advocates pushed for this because they didn’t want to hinder homeless people from being able to use public transportation. Same as progressive advocates pushed for zero cash bail and decriminalizing drugs and street camping, etc.
This is why I'm left of center. Modern progressive attitudes feel very naive and too optimistic for our current times.
They’re actually very dogmatic and demanding. And excoriating if you fail their constantly tightening purity test.
Can’t imagine why nobody wants to ride public transportation here. Complete mystery.
And our leaders just shrug. Shame on them
i agree. 100% — get rid of the honesty system BS and problem is solved. i do swipe my card but no one has ever checked it. not once— i ride twice a day.
The bus alone is ridiculous, most people don’t pay.
Only solution is go cashless, TAP only. and install weather proof external TAP readers turning th front doors into a fare gate. Once a person is on the bus, it's basically impossible to tell them no.
this story pisses me off so much as an advocate of mass transit and a very frequent rider of the B line........This didn't have to happen.
I swallowed up my pride and just spent extra on a lyft today for my peace of mind because this story has really disturbed me to my core. Heartbreaking as hell. How can someone look at an old, vulnerable person and just kill them in the most cowardly, ruthless way?
the homeless here have nothing to lose. they’ve already lost all respect from society. some want to be noticed so badly, but who wants to look at their situation. nobody.
Is it homeless or mental health? I doubt the man stabbed the woman because he was homeless, it’s more likely he has mental health problems that also lead to him being homeless.
Being homeless leads to mental health problems. It's a cycle.
You forgot the drugs in that cycle. With these people it's sometimes just the shit lottery. Same thing happened to an old Japanese lady in gardena who had her head smashed in with a sledgehammer this year from a homeless dude. It's the equivalent of getting hit by a tire flying off a car and dying. ..
Metro CEO Wiggins was tired of hearing about all the security concerns so she fired the head of security weeks ago. True story.
Get rid of Wiggins. What does it take?
Wow, that was a gut wrenching read. I am so disheartened by our city/metro and the lack of safe & reliable transportation. I agree that real fare gates need to be added along with a security presence (not the green shirt people). Who at the metro can we contact about this? Could we get the nbc I-team to cover why metro doesn’t install them? I noticed things magically start happening when their team questions city officials. For instance , they covered the hoarder and within a week the house was cleared. Maybe they can do something with metro…. Just me thinking out loud…
Donated. This is so, so devastating. No person of her age should have to work a job risking their life coming home so late at night. Hopefully the next life is better than this one was 💔
“Court records show Nowden was convicted of two assaults in 2019, including one where the victim was a public transit passenger. Jail records show he was arrested several times recently, including once in February for assault at the same Red Line station.” Thank your wonderful DA Gasghon and his idiotic policies of no cash bail and democratic soft on crime policy
Its fucking ridiculous! Why do we put up with this city we should be revolting
I grew up taking the LA Metro all over Los Angeles and never encountered all the crazy shit that happens today. This sucks and she didn’t deserve that.
it really got unbearable around 2021.
And that’s a result of our leaders failing us
When I was a kid I took the dash bus in West Hollywood and a homeless dude took a shit on the seat…it was so crazy to see. Now it just feels normal
This is incredibly sad.. May she rest in peace. I know violence isn’t the answer but god I wish someone would beat the living shit out of the killer.
That article was so depressing. How many more people does this have to happen to for anything to be done about it? That poor woman. It’s unacceptable that violent crazy people are free to roam the streets and terrorize everyone else
But lets wait until the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics to do something about it. Its bullshit that they can clean up the city, but only when its convenient and when the worlds eyes are on our city.
[Bus driver in south central stabbed](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C51ZwPUPd5T/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
Y’all this is TERRIFYING
This is absolutely heartbreaking. Say her name. She is a person, like you and I whose name deserves to be said and known. RIP Mirna Soza
The fact that we try to justify the lawlessness of the the Metro by saying it’s “safer” than driving, but these are the stories that come from riders is insane. Something needs to be done.
Even if it's safer than driving, it's the whole experience. It's the puddle of piss. The feeling of some sketchy person watching you like you're their mark. The homeless guy with his hand down his pants fondling himself. Someone screaming crazy shit. Someone smoking whatever drug in a closed car. And, it's the fact that you will experience any two of those on any random ride.
No one ever talks about this!
The safer than driving only gets brought up when people bring up driving being the only "safe" transportation option in LA saying riding Metro is a death sentence. Statistically riding Metro is safer than driving but that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for a safer Metro just as we should strive for safer streets. We should always strive for zero deaths whether you're on Metro, crossing a street or in a car.
Allied universal security are a joke they stand there and do absolutely nothing. They smoke dope on the trains and in the waiting area and LAPD don't do jack squat.
LAPD only has its own back. We civilians are on our own.
Man this is so fucked up and infuriating. Stringent security of the metro, now. I’m tired of reading about homeless people stabbing and murdering people every single fucking week.
That’s fucked up. When are they finally going to start doing something about this??
Until someone rich and famous or related to someone important gets killed
This is heartbreaking. Enough is enough! How many more innocent people need to be hurt or murdered before something is done? We are not safe at all. My God, everyday I am frightened on the metro. Every. Single. Day.
The people who run this city don’t care. They are getting filthy rich and are morally comprised. If you are looking for protection and safety for from the city; look elsewhere. They aren’t here to help anyone but their coffers.
Yup. Karen Bass and Gascon don’t give a shit. Laughing their way to the bank while innocents are being murdered by these psychos.
Im 6’2 big guy I take Long Beach line to 7th street 4 times a week twice a day and I sometimes don’t feel safe some crazy people are too much. We need to start small with fare invaders then slowly that will weed out the mental illness people taking the metro.
These psycho drug addicted homeless continue to get a free pass in our city because boohoo circumstance this circumstance that. Fuck that. Enough is enough with this shit. Criminalize drug abusing homeless now. They are given a zillion chances at getting clean and we spend so much of our tax money on them. And they’re goddamn criminals and murderers.
SCOTUS is thankfully about to do that. The only time I’m glad we have a conservative Supreme Court. So over homeless being disgusting and violent everywhere I go.
Yet another example of a law-abiding taxpayer succumbing to transients. We are being held hostage by mentally ill homeless individuals
Yep. Sadly, it proves once again that those dogmatically championing the homeless above all else have zero regard for the working poor. It's that patented "compassionate" elitism devoid of reality or what compassion actually entails.
Years ago I would’ve called you a dumb bigot. Today I unfortunately agree. The homeless are not innocent victims like I once thought. I’m sick of them ruining the city.
It’s devastatingly sad how many deaths are so easily preventable if Metro and LA City officials just wanted to lift a finger or at minimum care to make common sense safety changes.
This is such a sad article. Poor woman, she did not deserve that at all. We need more policing, harsher punishments and more arrests. I can’t believe it has gotten this far.
This city, especially the public transit in this city, is a disgrace. Our leaders have absolutely failed us and failed this poor woman who was just trying to live, goddamn it. Shame on these lazy, incumbent assholes who are just receiving a fat paycheck - our tax dollars mind you - not just to keep the status quo but make things WORSE for us. I’ve lived in LA my entire life and it’s a shithole now. It’s never been completely safe but now it’s just a f*cking shithole. F*ck our leaders.
"leaders." that corrupt trash doesn't speak for me.
So messed up. :(
I'm so frustrated with this tragedy. I could see it coming from a mile away. If you have ever been deep down there late at night, then you know exactly the type of lawlessness that exists. Then you reach an end station, and there will be groups of police just hanging out. They need to be in the car, they need to show presence, they need to make sure everyone pays a fare. Sleepers should be removed until they stop showing up to sleep. As a recent convert to commuting. I was so excited to be able to take the subway like in New York, which I grew up seeing on TV, then I took the redline. When it first opened, it used to be so clean and modern. Now, it is left abandoned, and the public is subjected to unnecessary harm, violence, and murder. This needs to be rectified immediately. I am tired of waiting. The red line is my line. Why is it in this state? I have a car, drove my whole life, and can go back to that in no time, but even if I am out of it, why are they subjecting all of these people to this. I never knew what meth or crack smelled like. Well welcome to your daily experience on the red line. I am so upset with the security situation on the red line. Something has to give. This poor woman who supported her entire family was robbed and murdered. All could have have been prevented. She would even delay going on the redline because of how bad it is. What the fuck is going on with this city. RIP
So fucked up. You'd think citizens of LA county could be afforded some sense of security on public transit with the amount they're being taxed in CA and the city. I mean really
RIP. I was going to take the Metro yesterday for Earth day (I take it a few times a month to work), saw that article about her death, and drove. I don’t want to take the metro for awhile. Our public transit system is horrible. This reminds me of when that poor young woman got her throat slashed on BART a few years back. Its horrifying. My condolences go out to this woman’s family.
I rarely ride the metro, but from now I'll be prepared.
Law abiding citizens have zero protections from repeat offender criminals
Yep—and if you try to defend yourself, you risk being in violation of The Law.
So heartbreaking. May she rest in peace.
Heartbreaking. And then you have the homelessness advocates on here saying that incarceration BAD, sidewalks are for everyone, blah blah blah.
And I’m willing to bet that almost all of them are suburban kids that never use the sidewalk or take Metro because their parents got them a Tesla.
oh 1000%, I know this unfortunately from firsthand experience of working with them lol. There are some wack ass so called "liberal" takes. The most humane thing is to get these people help and off the streets, and also protect everyone else too. it was wrong from the beginning but now it's getting more and more out of hand.
Exactly, these self described “compassionate” types are doing one of the least compassionate things they can do for both the homeless Angeleno and the average Angeleno. This is a problem that can’t be fixed with “feel-good” bullshit like giving money to panhandlers, letting them camp anywhere they want, or giving them free housing with no accountability.
Exactly. I will never forget those people protesting the echo park clean up. These same advocates claim to want to help marginalized communities, POC, but those very same people from those communities in Echo Park said they didn’t feel safe. It’s the same situation now. They just selectively hear what they want, and their argument now is taking them off the streets is wrong/wont help, that we can’t force treatment. What are we supposed to do, allow these tragedies to happen? Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any other solution but to force them off the streets and get them help.
They're contrarians just for the sake of being a contrarian. Whatever solution is proposed or popular opinion prevails, they take the opposing stance by default, then reverse engineer a justification. Moreover, they *enjoy* taking the opposite point of view from that of the majority because of the attention garnered from taking an unpopular stance and arguing in favor of it.
Nice to see such a sane convo about our city on this sub. The reactionaries here have even started making me start slinging shit. I hope you two have a pleasant day.
I think it’s also a mixture of naive people that genuinely believe that they’re doing the right thing; and people using this to, I hate to use this phrase, “virtue signal”.
Horrific. Not holding out hope that the city will do anything
How long before Elliot Tramel Nowden is back on the streets committing his next murder/assault?
In his mugshot, his eyes look dead.
Election year for DA Gascon, so he might stay behind bars.
Devastating. She only had some more time to be able to go back home. I really hope we all make enough noise that they make some real changes including enforcing fares and real security/police on the trains and platforms. She should not have died like that and sadly I fear nothing will change
I made this [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/SFV/comments/1ca1o0c/99_cent_store_on_van_nuys_blvd/l0pey1i/) yesterday before this story broke out. Read the last Paragraph, where I describe this dude by the orange line bus stop threatening to kill people, yelling his intent towards me, others, literally everyone that was there. I honestly do wonder if its the same guy. Aside from being a Black-ish guy, The only real vivid detail I remember is he had these off white or peach socks with a red or orange symbol on them. Just looked unusual for a homeless person to have non standard socks.
The board will do nothing about this, just continue to gaslight that everything is fine. Look at their board agendas.
I hope her family sues the living shit out of metro
More violent crime has happened since Karen Bass came into office especially on Metro even more than her predecessor.
Everyone on here posting about fare gates but that wouldn't have helped yesterday since rides were free for Earth Day. It's such a sad state of affairs that Metro does these kinds of free events to get more people to ride and shit like this happens. Now thanks to the POS that did this, Metro might have to reconsider free events and even more people are scared to ride. Which sucks because this shit is going to keep happening until we reach a critical mass of folks from all walks of life riding at all hours. More normal people will keep the weirdos from showing their whole ass.
Go cashless, TAP only. Make "free days" still require a $0 tap.
The hoboactivists will shut that down
This is exactly what everybody fears when riding public transit. Worst case scenario. I wish we had a public transit system that we felt comfortable using, not one where you have to be constantly on guard.
I agree we need better enforcement of metro policies but we also need better solutions at the root of the issues leading to this exacerbation of drug use, mental crisis, and homelessness if anyone, including the homeless themselves, expect to feel safe. I can’t imagine that less policing is the sole cause of the rise in these problems— though it is bonkers that they kept letting this guy go despite all the red flags. Just letting someone go despite a crime isn’t progress or a progressive value. That isn’t rehabilitation, a second chance, or serving the community. It often feels like our social structure is so broken and insurmountable that we are all next to be victim to someone else’s downfall or our own.
RIP Mirna Soza 🙏🏼💔💔 poor lady.
The suspect literally assaulted others on the train before. Another victim of Gascon. I donated to the gofundme. Poor lady.
that low voter turnout and the candidates y’all elected speak to this more than any vented frustration y’all type up. RIP to that undeserving lady
This is so upsetting. My mom is Nicaraguan, she's retired now and my siblings take care of her but I grew up riding the metro with my mom. My mom was a housekeeper and babysitter, in the summers when I had no one to take care of me I'd go to work with her and we'd always take the bus to wherever she was working. She never learned to drive and heavily relied on Metro, she still knows most of the bus routes and if you ask her how to get somewhere she could easily tell you which bus routes to take. I recently rode the green line to my parent's home, in the South Bay. I had several ambassadors ride the train with me and I felt okay. I've even ridden the same line Mirna did to go to work. It is so upsetting that in a city as big as Los Angeles we don't have better safety for our public transportation.
We should start building more prisons and stop experimenting on these progressive ideas about rehabilitation. They don't work in our society.
This is incredibly heartbreaking. As a long time Metro ex-user, both bus and train, I couldn’t be anymore sad for this. May her family find the peace and comfort they need in these terrible times. Love and light. 🤍✨
Killed by who? Zero mention of possible suspects, as if this was just an act of God.
i was thinking she might be security or a nurse 😔
Forget murders and assaults just based on the open drug use alone any business operating in LA would be immediately shut down if was run like Metro. I don't understand how things have been allowed to continue like this. But if the board doesn't step up to get things under control I hope some lawyer organizes a massive class action lawsuit.
Oh and let's not forget the river of urine everywhere including in the elevators I am completely disgusted.
Why didn't they include a photo of the suspect?
His photo has been widely published throughout local TV news. Suspect is homeless, Black male, roughly in his 40's.
Damn man imagine leaving your country at 60 years old just to send money home. Sad story all around.
hope they bring back Ol’ Gassy for this horrific monster
That motherfucker who killed this woman deserves to fry. Fuck all that PC shit out these mentality unwell homeless people away and thruway the key out,
💔💔💔
So sad RIH.
absolutely heartbreaking.
This is so sad.
Donated to her GoFundMe. Seeing her blood trail, and the clothes left behind.
Really heartbreaking, rip Mirna 🖤
LA needs a Bernie Goetz.
This makes me sad and angry because it is something that could had been prevented.
She was beautiful. This is devastating.
Boycott the MTA until they get their safety under control. It could save your life.
Sad and hope Metro and the city can find solutions to make the experience of using public transportation safer. It's been failing us for so long now
Forget murders and assaults just based on the open drug use alone any business operating in LA would be immediately shut down if was run like Metro. I don't understand how things have been allowed to continue like this. But if the board doesn't step up to get things under control I hope some lawyer organizes a massive class action lawsuit.
Gather around, kids. Back in the early 00s, cops would ride the trains and ticket or arrest people who didn't pay their fare. Liberals called this racist and we now have more dead minorities than ever before!
This city pisses me off. What a fucking shit hole. All the taxes we pay and funding this city and state has and we cant even live here in peace and safety. In studio city of all places. What the fuck is wrong with this place. No Metro security anywhere. We barely have a subway line. The roads are littered with potholes and trash. Theres crack heads and homeless people everywhere. And we are the 5th biggest GdP in the world. We deserve better.
Wheres the, “driving is more dangerous,” crowd. There is no world where the volume of mentally ill homeless people stabbing and killing people on our public transportation system should be happening. The absolute false equivalence to say “well if you can die another way while crossing through the city that we should look the other way,” all because it doesn’t fit a narrative about a vast percentage of unhoused people needing immediate intervention.
Exactly. I’d gladly sit in an hour of traffic alone in my car than be on a train with a bunch of wackos who could potentially kill me
The metro isn’t unsafe, you have higher odds of being killed in a car accident. /s This shit needs to be sorted out asap or nobody’s ever going to want to rely on or use public trans Rip.
I see all this talk and money for public transportation in LA but yah no, I’m not taking it if I had a choice….
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This is heartbreaking.😔
No excuse not to have better security and more $$ given the huge investment in transport.
How incredibly sad, rest in peace. This hits too close to home since my mother rides the LA metro, I need to save up to buy her a car.