A woman with a pending assault case was charged Wednesday with murdering a Metro employee, who was stabbed on a Metro B Line train at a downtown Los Angeles rail station.
Irma Beatriz Monroy is set to be arraigned in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom in connection with last Friday's killing of Louis Rabinowitz, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The 25-year-old Los Angeles woman could face up to 16 years to life in state prison if convicted of the murder charge, which includes an allegation that she personally used a knife as a deadly weapon, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Monroy allegedly got into an argument with the 54-year-old victim inside the train near the 7th Street/Metro Center Station and stabbed him once in the chest. He died soon afterward.
Authorities said the assailant was seen exiting the station pushing a "distinctive'' green bicycle. She was arrested three days later by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division and jailed in lieu of $2 million bail.
Officers recovered the knife suspected of having been used in the stabbing, along with the bicycle, police said.
In an email sent Saturday night to employees, Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington said the victim had worked at Metro for more than 18 years, most recently in the rail operations division.
In a statement released Monday night, he said the transit agency was "grateful for the quick response and action taken by our law enforcement partners in the apprehension and arrest of the suspect in the murder of one of our employees last Friday night at the 7th Street Metro Center Station. It is through this quick response that riders and fellow Metro employees can be assured that safety on our system is top priority and individuals who commit such acts of violence will be aggressively pursued and brought to justice.''
Monroy had been charged Sept. 25 with one count of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly assaulting her brother with a weight on Aug. 31, along with an allegation that she inflicted great bodily injury, according to the DA's office.
