Man arrested in June stabbing aboard a Metrobus in DC

Metro Transit police have arrested a suspect in connection with the June stabbing aboard a Metrobus in Northwest D.C.

Jabari Tate, 23, faces a charge of assault with intent to kill.



Metro Transit police tweeted Wednesday that the Southeast D.C. man was arrested without incident in Northeast on Tuesday with help from the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Fugitive Task Force.

Tate is accused of stabbing a man around 3:20 p.m. June 3 aboard a No. 33 bus along Wisconsin Avenue Northwest, near the intersection with Newark Street.

According to an affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court, witnesses told police that an argument between the attacker and the victim escalated over the course of minutes and turned physical.

The attacker was “seen making a stabbing motion towards the victim’s neck and upper body approximately twelve times while wrestling with and at one point standing over top of the victim who had fallen to the ground,” the affidavit said.

“After the victim fell to the ground, the [attacker] continued to repeatedly and quickly made a stabbing motion with his right hand to the victim’s neck and upper body area, and then eventually to the victim’s left rear flank while pushing down on the victim’s neck … preventing the victim from standing up or defending himself.”

Both fell off the bus when the front door opened, and the attacker fled west on Newark.

Tate was identified as a suspect through the use of facial-recognition software connected to the National Law Enforcement Database, according to the affidavit, and authorities say Tate’s father identified his son as the attacker after he was shown bus camera footage.

The unidentified victim was quickly taken into surgery at George Washington Hospital Center to treat a “deep” laceration to the victim’s hand and two wounds to his abdomen. Per the document, a nurse told police that a section of his colon had to be removed during surgery.

Jack Pointer

Jack contributes to WTOP.com when he's not working as the afternoon/evening radio writer.

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