Fourth CTA attack of week: Man stabbed, beaten outside train station in Chicago

CHICAGO — A man was stabbed and beaten outside a CTA station in the South Loop Friday evening in what appears to be at least the fourth similar attack in less than a week, police said.

A witness called police around 6:12 p.m. to report the stabbing in the 1100 block of South State Street, the Chicago Police Department said in a media notification Friday night.

Video surveillance showed a 30-year-old man was on the mezzanine level of the train station when he became involved in a fight with five men, police said.

The fight moved to the street, where the five men punched and kicked the man while he was on the ground, and one of them stabbed the 30-year-old man in the chest with a knife, police said.

He was transported to Mercy Hospital, where he was listed in fair condition.

The five men fled but were taken into custody in the 100 block of East 35th Street, police said.

The Friday incident appears to be the fourth similar attack at a CTA station this week.

On Wednesday, a 26-year-old man was stabbed in the arm while on a CTA platform at 12 E. Cermak Rd. around 10 p.m. Three people approached him, demanded his property and assaulted him, according to a Chicago police media notification.

Late Tuesday, police responded to the Red Line Lake/State station for a report of a 43-year-old man that was beaten by a group of people.

On Monday, the operator of a Red Line train was lured away from the train by a person claiming to need help retrieving their phone from the tracks, then was pushed onto the tracks, police said.

The CTA last month said it would increase the presence of security guards and the Chicago Police Department also said it would add officers to patrol train stations in response to a spike in crime and rule-breaking on trains and at stations.

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