After Mirna Arauz Soza clocked out of her overnight shift at Original Tommy’s Hamburgers, she boarded the L.A. Metro red line as part of her usual commute. The 66-year-old mother of three didn’t make it one stop before Elliot Tramel Nowden crept from behind and stabbed her in the neck.
Nowden, a homeless offender banned from Metro after stabbing a college student on a train in 2019, grabbed her bag and fled. Mirna’s family told us that she hobbled onto the platform and bled out for at least an hour before succumbing to her injuries. According to the family, Metro did not have officials patrolling the station that morning.
Five months ago, we filed a public records request for information about Mirna’s murder. Metro refused, citing family privacy concerns. Later, it claimed that releasing footage of this high-profile murder on board was not in the “public interest.” We countered with a letter from Mirna’s three surviving children authorizing the release of all footage related to their mother’s death, but Metro still refused to release all the material.
Anyone who uses public transportation in the United States knows that evidence of an innocent bystander’s unprovoked, violent murder on a train is of undeniable public interest. Angelenos should know what they’re up against every time they step on public transit. But Metro has refused to give them the full and uncensored truth.
So we’re suing them to get it.
Angelenos have seen enough to know that Metro is a hellscape. Riders told us they see knives, guns, violence, or even dead bodies all the time. One even told us that you could get away with killing someone on Metro.
None of this is by accident. Metro began giving up on effective policing about ten years ago. Since then, fare enforcement has collapsed. Between 2020 and 2025, crime in the system more than doubled. About half of all riders reportedly don’t pay, and more than 90 percent of violent criminals on Metro (including Nowden, according to Mirna’s family) evade fares. Metro could catch criminals like Mirna’s murderer at the gates, if only it tried.
We reported these shocking statistics months ago. Since we blew the whistle on its lawless system, Metro has doubled down. Earlier this year, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass became Chair of the Metro Board, where she’s responsible for overseeing the entire transit agency. Bass has said that she wants to develop a plan to make Metro officially “fare-free.”
Over our months-long battle with local bureaucrats in L.A., we’ve engaged with Metro lawyers, leadership, and riders. Everyone knows Metro has a safety problem. Too few seem willing to admit that policing could help.
Metro has committed itself to social justice instead of law and order at the expense of the low-income commuters and law-abiding Angelenos who rely on the system. Even worse, Metro is trying to conceal the violence and mayhem that happens on board.
That’s why we’re suing Metro. Mirna’s family deserves to know what happened to their mother. And Californians deserve to know what kind of monsters await them on the county’s public trains.
The LA metro really ought to ask their buddies up in the Bay Area how enforcing fare payment works for reducing crime - https://wheninyourstate.com/usa/maintenance-costs-fall-96-after-san-francisco-adds-tamper-proof-subway-turnstiles/
If the LA metro wants more riders, it needs the environment to be safe. It won't we safe if criminals ride the metro. This is not rocket surgery
Criminals belong in prison, not for their rehabilitation, nor for their future. Simply to keep them away from the rest of us.