Passenger shot and killed on Bay Area train

OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A passenger was shot and killed Saturday night when a man pulled out a gun and started firing on a packed Bay Area train, police said.

Police are still searching for the suspect, who shot a seated passenger and made many on the train think it was a terrorist attack.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit or BART train was in Oakland's waterfront area and bound for San Francisco at 7:50 p.m., BART spokesman Jim Allison said, when the gunman shot the passenger moments before the train reached the West Oakland station and disappeared into the night.

A passenger aboard the train and nurse who was found at the station tried to CPR on the shooting victim, but the man died on the train floor.

The shooter is described as a black male, about 6-foot-3-inches tall, bald and slim. He was wearing blue jeans, a green hooded jacket and tan military-style boots. The victim, who was not identified, was holding "some kind of knife" said BART police Lt. Aaron Ledford.

There is no evidence the shooting was terrorism related. No other details about the shooting are known.

Allison said the West Oakland train station is closed the train cars have been removed while police investigate.

BART police say it was the first time someone was killed on the train system since the 1990s.