A subway security guard was shot and wounded on a Philadelphia-area train Thursday afternoon, according to transit officials.
The guard was shot at about 3:10 p.m. Thursday while on board a Market-Frankford Line train at the Arrott Transportation Center in northeast Philadelphia, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority spokesperson Andrew Busch said.
The guard was in stable condition Thursday evening and no other details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting are available yet, Busch said. It is not immediately known whether there were any witnesses to the shooting.
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The man who was shot is an employee of Scotlandyard Security Services, which provides security personnel who work in outreach roles for the transportation authority, Busch said.
The guard, who is 27, has not been publicly identified, KWY newsradio reported. SEPTA in 2022 deployed over 80 of the guards, called "outreach specialists," to help reinforce the rules of riding on the trains and to contact SEPTA police when needed. They do not have weapons.
The security guards were hired after a series of sexual assaults at subway stations or on trains in recent years. From October 2021 to April 2022, three sexual assaults were reported on a Philadelphia-area commuter train or train platform.