A BART train was reportedly swarmed by 50 to 60 juveniles in Oakland on Saturday night who strong-armed passengers of bags and cellphones before quickly leaving the Bay Area Rapid Transit station before authorities could arrive.
BART officials told KPIX-TV that the incident happened about 9:30 p.m. at the Coliseum Station, which services the Oakland Coliseum and Oracle Arena, where the Oakland Athletics and Golden State Warriors play, respectively.
Witnesses told BART police, according to KPIX-TV, that the suspected juveniles gained access to the train's platform by jumping the fare gate and then committed the robberies. Authorities told the San Francisco Chronicle that some robbers appeared to hold the door open to the Dublin-bound train car while others suspects took items and in some cases beat passengers.
Two BART station agents called police but the suspects fled into a nearby East Oakland neighborhood by the time police arrived about five minutes later, officials told KRON-TV.
"We had one purse, one duffel bag and five cellphones stolen," BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost told KPIX-TV. "No weapons were reported."
Trost told the Chronicle that BART police said six of the nine cars on the train had working surveillance cameras, and they are viewing video from those cars as well as station cameras.
"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 told the Chronicle. "We have had success with sharing images of juveniles with this group and identifying and making arrests in the past."
Trost told the newspaper that similar robberies have happened on BART trains before but on a smaller scale. Another incident happened at a carnival near the Oakland Coliseum in March. In that incident, a large group of suspected teenagers beat workers at the carnival, stealing prizes from the game booths, wrote the Chronicle.
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