Dozens of juveniles storm BART train, rob passengers

April 25 (UPI) -- Bay Area Rapid Transit has stepped up officers' patrols after 40 to 60 juveniles mobbed a Bay Area Rapid Transit train, robbing and injuring several passengers, the transit authority officials said.

The public rail system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California, said in a statement Monday it "created additional overtime shifts for officers who will be visibly patrolling stations" after the minors stormed the train.

They first jumped fare gates at the Coliseum Station in Oakland, around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said.

They entered a Dublin-bound train car on the second-story platform, and then grabbed bags and cellphones from passengers, police said. In all, six people were robbed on the train and one on the platform.

Two people sustained minor facial injuries. They were treated at the scene.

"The rapid nature of these crimes maximized the efficiency of the robberies, and allowed them to take place within the few short minutes between the 911 call and police arriving," BART said in the statement.

BART is attempting to find the juveniles.

"We are working with allied agencies to bring the juveniles to justice," BART said. "Our investigators will be distributing the footage among local law enforcement agencies as well as school districts, where we have had previous success in arresting juveniles who commit crimes on BART. We are not releasing the footage to the public at this time due to the age of the suspects involved."

Trost said groups of teens previously have rushed onto BART trains and stole from passengers.

"To have it happen all at once, obviously it was a coordinated [incident], Trost said. "They knew why they were coming to the station.

"It is something that occurs frequently enough that we know it's a problem, and we are working with law enforcement."

The service connects San Francisco with cities in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties with ridership averaging 429,000 on weekdays and serving 46 train stations, according to BART.

"We want to stress that this robbery is neither reflective of the safety of our system nor of public transportation generally," BART said in the statement. "We strive to provide a safe place for our passengers, and condemn this unprecedented, unacceptable, violent behavior in the strongest of terms. We appreciate the trust our passengers have long put in BART, and are working diligently to reduce the likelihood of this type of crime occurring again."

Passengers are concerned.

"I'm kind of scared now, how easily can that happen," BART rider Karla Nunez said to KNTV. "Wasn't it supervised at all? It concerns me."