A person was assaulted on a Red Line train during rush hour yesterday afternoon, resulting in a trip to the hospital and an ongoing Metro investigation.

Per a spokesperson at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority:

“Shortly after 5 p.m. on Monday, [the Metro Transit Police Department] responded to NoMa-Gallaudet U Station for an assault aboard an inbound train, stemming from an apparent attempted robbery of a book bag. Several juveniles were stopped by police, but none could be positively identified at the scene. The investigation is ongoing and will include a review of video surveillance to identify the suspect or suspects. The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The train involved was delayed about 15 minutes.”

The incident, first publicized on a District Reddit thread, allegedly involved “a group of youths,” according to an apparent witness. “I got on at Union Station and tried to move away from them because they seemed rowdy and then two of them started wailing on a poor guy just sitting there heading to meet his wife (who by the grace of God was meeting him at the NoMa station when he stumbled off near death),” the apparent witness writes. “I got the driver to stop and call the cops but they escaped. The guy had a broken jaw and couldn’t remember what had happened. We were wiping the blood from his mouth and his face was swollen beyond recognition.”

Update 11:58 a.m.: A Metro spokesperson provided the following updated information on the incident late Tuesday morning, with a few more details:

“At approximately 5:30 p.m. Monday, MTPD received a report of an assault aboard a Red Line inbound train that was on approach to NoMa Station. An MTPD officer who was on the platform at NoMa when the call was received intercepted the train and stopped three juveniles who ran off the train when it arrived…The victim, an adult male, was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.”

Photo by Darrow Montgomery