Law & Justice
Family Sues L.A. Metro Over Murder and Release of Footage
By Christopher F. Rufo, Haley Strack
In April 2024, Mirna Arauz Soza, a 67‑year‑old mother of three, was stabbed on the L.A. Metro red line after finishing an overnight shift at Original Tommy’s Hamburgers. The attacker, Elliot Tramel Nowden, a homeless offender who had been banned from Metro after a 2019 stabbing, approached Arauz from behind, stabbed her in the neck, seized her bag, and fled. Arauz’s family says she staggered onto the platform, bled for at least an hour, and died from her injuries. They also claim that no Metro officials were patrolling the station that morning.
Five months ago, the family filed a public records request for information about Arauz’s murder. Metro declined, citing family privacy concerns, and later said that releasing footage of the incident was not in the public interest. The family sent a letter from Arauz’s three surviving children authorizing the release of all footage related to their mother’s death, but Metro still refused.
The family argues that evidence of an unprovoked, violent murder on public transit is of undeniable public interest and that Metro’s refusal to provide the footage denies riders the truth about safety on the system.
They also point to reports that riders frequently see knives, guns, violence, or dead bodies on Metro, and that crime in the system has more than doubled between 2020 and 2025. About half of all riders reportedly do not pay fares, and more than 90 percent of violent criminals on Metro, including Nowden, evade fares. The family claims that Metro could have caught the attacker at the gates if it had attempted to enforce fare compliance.
The lawsuit follows the appointment of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass as Chair of the Metro Board, where she has expressed interest in making Metro fare‑free. The family contends that Metro’s focus on social justice has come at the expense of law and order, and that the agency is attempting to conceal the violence that occurs on board.
The family seeks to obtain the footage and to hold Metro accountable for the safety of its riders. They argue that Californians deserve to know what kind of threats exist on the county’s public trains.