Officer shoots knife-wielding man who stabbed 3 people at Pa. subway station: reports

A knife-wielding man stabbed three people, including a security guard, before a SEPTA police officer shot the man down on Monday.

It happened in Center City at Broad Street and South Penn Square outside of City Hall in Philadelphia around 8 p.m., when police received a call about a man attempting to stab people walking by on the northbound platforms at the Walnut-Locust Station.

An unarmed security guard approached the man who then stabbed her in the neck. The man then slashed two other passengers before escaping the platform.

In all, there were up to three victims. According to SEPTA Transit Police Chief Charles “Chuck” Lawson, all victims were treated and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

“I’m told preliminary that it seems unprovoked, that the individual came into the station and started making slashing motions just at people walking by,” Lawson said to 6ABC .

Authorities converged on the scene at City Hall and came across the suspect at the station. They chased him for a short time, and police used a stun gun on the suspect, but it didn’t work.

“They told him to stop and freeze, but he kept on going. He kept on going and he just tried to run...,” Lamar Hargrove of North Philadelphia, a witness, said to NBC10 .

That’s when a six-year veteran of the SEPTA Transit Police Department shot the suspect three times and wounded him.

The suspect, who police said appears to be homeless and in his mid-40s, was taken to a hospital and treated. There is no word on his condition, according to reports.

Outside City Hall Monday night, shell casings and two knives were found on the ground and recovered.