UPDATED: 1/18/24, 4:45 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After releasing one suspect, police have a man in custody they say stabbed another person near 15th Street Station early Thursday morning.
SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said there was a confrontation between two apparently homeless men seen traveling together shortly after 5 a.m. at Dilworth Park, on the mezzanine outside the 15th Street trolley stop. The two men got into some kind of disagreement and one stabbed the other in the back.
The victim ran out onto Dilworth Plaza, then was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Busch says SEPTA police immediately took a man into custody. “After checking with witnesses and also with the victim, it was determined that was not the suspect in the incident," he told KYW Newsradio.
Hours later, around 3:30 p.m., SEPTA's virtual patrol unit monitoring surveillance cameras saw a man matching the suspect's description leaving 15th Street Station. An alert went out and Philadelphia police arrested the man at 15th and Walnut streets.
As police were investigating, trolleys were initially skipping 15th Street Station. The disruption did not last long though, and service was restored in time for the morning rush.