BART takeover robbery: 40 to 60 teens swarm train, hold up riders

BART police are beefing up patrols at Oakland stations after dozens of juveniles terrorized riders Saturday night when they invaded the Coliseum Station and commandeered at least one train car, forcing passengers to hand over bags and cell phones and leaving at least two with head injuries. 

The incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. Saturday.  Witnesses told police that 40 to 60 juveniles flooded the station, jumped the fare gates and rushed to the second-story train platform.  Some of the robbers apparently held open the doors of a Dublin-bound train car while others streamed inside, confronting and robbing and in some cases beating riders. 

“I’ve been there 24 years and this is the first time I’ve heard of anything like this happening,” said Keith Garcia, a BART police officer and union president. 

In this file photo, passengers board a train at the Castro Valley BART station.  In this file photo, passengers board a train at the Castro Valley BART station.  Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close BART takeover robbery: 40 to 60 teens swarm train, hold up riders 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

Alicia Trost, a BART spokeswoman, said Monday that seven people were robbed — with the victims losing a purse, a duffel bag and five phones.  Six people were robbed inside the train car, with a seventh confronted on the platform, she said.  Police received no reports of guns or other weapons being brandished. 

A police summary prepared after the incident said that at least two victims suffered injuries to the face or head that required medical attention. 

The attack was so quick, police reported, that the teenagers were able to retreat from the station and vanish into the surrounding East Oakland neighborhood before BART officers could respond.  The train was held for about 15 minutes as authorities interviewed victims and witnesses and tended to the injured. 

Trost said police arrived at the station in less than 5 minutes, but that the robberies took place in just seconds. 

BART police had increased the number of officers patrolling Oakland stations Saturday night because of a recent rise in the number of police calls.  A BART police sergeant and an officer were in the station’s back parking lot on patrol when the station was stormed, Trost said.  They were the first to arrive at the concourse after the crime was reported. 

Rebecca Saltzman, president of the BART Board of Directors, said the board to examine ways to prevent a recurrence. 

“This was obviously a terrible event and I’m sure very scary for the victims and the BART employees involved,” she said. “ We’re looking at it very closely to see how we can respond to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” 

Director Robert Raburn, whose district includes Coliseum Station, said he was “very disturbed that such an aggressive action would put BART passengers and employees at risk.  It cannot occur with impunity.” 

Six of the nine cars on the train had working surveillance cameras, and BART police were viewing video from those cars as well as station cameras, Trost said.  Since many victims and witnesses were unsure which car they were on, and didn’t know if the swarm had entered other cars, BART police are reviewing video from all working cameras.  All BART trains are scheduled to be equipped with working cameras by the end of June. 

“We are in the process of pulling all surveillance video, and we will share with Oakland police, Oakland Unified School District and Oakland Housing Authority to see if they can help identify the minors,” Trost said. “ We have had success with sharing images of juveniles with this group and identifying and making arrests in the past.” 

The images cannot be shared publicly, she said, because the attackers appear to be minors. 

Trost said Oakland police have told their BART counterparts that other incidents involving large groups of teens took place in the general area Saturday night.  Oakland police officials declined to comment, and would offer no details Monday, referring questions to BART police. 

Robberies committed by small groups of people who snatch valuables from riders when trains stop at stations then dash off just before the train departs have been known to happen on BART, Trost said.  But this was the first time she was aware of a train being swarmed by a large group of teens. 

“We’re taking this seriously,” Saltzman said. “ Things like this have happened elsewhere but not at BART.” 

Last month, according to two television reports, a swarm of teenagers invaded a carnival near the Oakland Coliseum, beating workers and stealing prizes from the game booths.  Robberies involving small groups invading stores and restaurants in the Bay Area are not unheard of.  But incidents involving such large groups are rare. 

The incident presents another challenge for BART, which hired a new police chief last week.  The agency has struggled to contain fare evaders and is studying ways to make it harder to enter a station without paying. 

Demian Bulwa and Michael Cabanatuan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers.  Email: dbulwa@sfchronicle.com, mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @demianbulwa, @ctuan