WASHINGTON — An armed robbery suspect was subdued by two Metro employees on a Green Line train Saturday.
Transit officials — who did not identify the male and female employees — are hailing the workers as heroes. “Faced with an armed suspect, they selflessly sprung into action and may well have saved others from harm,” Metro Interim General Manager Jack Requa said.
According to Metro, the chain of events began in the Anacostia station shortly after 4 p.m. The male victim was approached by a man with a handgun in his waistband. The man flashed the gun and made off with $40 of the victim’s money before boarding a northbound Green Line train.
Once he was on the train, the suspect got into a fight with passengers, Metro said.
That’s when the Metro employees, who happened to be the train, noticed the altercation and attempted to intervene. The male employee pinned the suspect to the floor while the female employee radioed the Rail Operations Control Center to dispatch Metro Transit Police, Metro said.
During the altercation, the male employee noticed the suspect reaching in his jacket pocket and asked, “Do you have a gun?” When the suspect responded “yes,” the employee grabbed the weapon and placed it on the floor, out of the suspect’s reach, according to Metro.
Metro Transit Police intercepted the train at Gallery Place, where an arrest was made. Police said they recovered a fully loaded .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun that had a bullet in the chamber.
Rondez Trayvon Tibbs, 20, of Southeast, was arrested in connection to the incident. He was charged with armed robbery and carrying a pistol without a license. Police say Tibbs is currently on probation in D.C. after pleading guilty to charges related to armed robbery earlier this year.
Green and Yellow line trains were single-tracked around the police investigation for about 30 minutes.
