A young passenger discovered a man bleeding from stab wounds and lying face down inside the 24th Street BART station early Sunday afternoon. BART police officers started rendering aid to the victim and shut down the station. The victim has been identified as 28-year-old Jabaree Harris.
The young man, who asked not to be named, descended the escalators at 24th BART Plaza at about 1:30 p.m. He noticed Harris lying face-down on the ground near the Millbrae/SFO platform. He believed Harris was overdosing on fentanyl.
“Yo, officers!” the young man called out. “Come here, someone is ODing.” The teenager said Harris was still breathing when he found him.
Two BART police officers arrived and flipped Harris over, revealing stab wounds in his stomach. Immediately, BART police officers began pressing onto Harris’ frame, and ordered the rest of the dozen passengers waiting for trains off the platform and out of the station.
“This station is closed,” one officer said. The station gates were pulled shut minutes later.
“I thought he was bleeding out,” the young man said.
According to BART officials, two men were arguing near the BART station elevator at around 1:40 p.m. before one individual stabbed Harris. Harris then walked down the stairs into the station and subsequently collapsed on the platform. The suspect fled the area.
Despite attempts from BART officials to aid Harris, he died from his injuries.
Later, another BART passenger told the young man that they had seen Harris fall down five minutes before the young man arrived and discovered him. It’s unclear if they did anything, but the young man believed they had not. Two other people in the station mentioned to the teenager that they noticed blood droplets “near the escalator,” but did not see the stabbing. Mission Local did not see any blood droplets outside of the northeast plaza entrance.
The police officers were already present at the upper level of the station by the time the young man reported the incident. An ambulance was apparently called by BART officers by the time the police cleared the station, the young man said.
“They were just standing there,” the young man said, visibly frustrated by what he characterized as a lack of action and urgency on both the BART police and the other passengers’ parts. “Hopefully this will cause a change in policy or something.”
The 24th Street BART station reopened at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
This story has been updated with more information from BART officials.
UPDATE WEDNESDAY 10:27 a.m.: This story has been updated with the identity of the victim.
Crime is trauma and the county offers different services, which can be found here. Victims of violent crime can also contact the Trauma Recovery Center at UCSF.
The SFPD’s data on crime can be found here.
How did someone stabbed on the street make it down to the BART track level? Are there no station agents? What are the BART police at the fare gate level doing? If this station doesn’t have BART staff paying attention then does any station? Apparently the guy was bleeding out – I doubt he gracefully jumped over the low fences at the fair gate level and I doubt he wasn’t obvious if he went down the long steep stairs from the street.
This is what happens when open drug use become normalized. Bystanders assume that someone dying facedown on a BART platform is just on drugs and won’t even investigate to see what’s wrong. There’s too much cynicism and resignation about antisocial behavior in SF; we need to quit facilitating drug use and stop making excuses for drug addicts. Cheers to the teenager who hasn’t given up yet. It’s just sad that in this case he arrived on the scene too late to save the victim.
And it’s probably time to clear out ALL the vendors from the 24th street station plaza. Seems like any legitimate vendors there might be are just being used as cover by drug dealers, sellers of stolen goods, and now violent criminals.
This is unfortunate on multiple levels. This man’s death will immediately be politically weaponized.
My respect to the individual who sought to help the victim.
I think you really mean this mans death will be politically ignored. That’s how it works in dysfunctional San Francisco. Everything is OK! Because we are “compassionate” and care about each other.
The problem with SF is that most people seem to be more concerned about how this unfortunate event may be seen from a political point of view rather than recognizing that someone was murdered and the murderer is still on the loose. It’s always appearances over solutions in this town. Lots of posturing and bloviating and little to not action. It’s a disgrace.
You can barely walk through this filthy area. People bump and press against each other, and all over each other’s faces. There has been a lot of violence in this area recently it seems and unfortunately I have a feeling that it will continue to escalate since the city is not doing anything about it but rather making it worst with their fencing off the plaza.
Why are citizens paying so much money in rent and taxes to live like this??
They are paying a lot sure, but this is not rampant, nor are people pressed in your face all the time. It’s safe. Truly.
Horrible. The area has become a cesspool since the stolen goods flea market has been allowed to operate unrestricted.