A gunman opened fire aboard a Metro A Line train in Long Beach just after 9:50 a.m. Monday, prompting police to shut down rail service for several hours near Long Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway. No one was hit by the gunfire, and the suspect was taken into custody a short time later along with a firearm.
According to the Press Telegram, Long Beach police officers located the suspect and the weapon near the scene, though it remained unclear what prompted the gunfire or what led up to the confrontation. Authorities confirmed the suspect had allegedly fired the gun while aboard the train, but further details about the person's identity and motive had not been released as of Monday afternoon.
LA Metro temporarily suspended service between the Willow Street and Anaheim Street stations as officers investigated, the outlet reported. Trains approaching from the north were turned back at Willow toward Pomona, while southbound trains were turned back at Anaheim Street to downtown Long Beach, leaving a gap in service along one of the system's busiest corridors during the late-morning commute.
A Line Station Sits Along a Street-Running Stretch With a Troubled Recent History
The shooting happened near the Pacific Coast Highway station, which sits at grade along Metro's A Line — at 57.7 miles, the longest light-rail line in the world, running between Downtown LA and Downtown Long Beach since it opened in 1990 as the Blue Line, according to Wikipedia. The Long Beach Boulevard corridor where the train runs at street level has seen a string of violent incidents in recent months. Long Beach police responded on August 22 to a shots-fired call in the 1000 block of Long Beach Boulevard, one of several summer gun violence calls along the same rail corridor; no injuries were reported and the suspect fled before officers arrived.
Earlier this year, a stabbing near the A Line's Pacific station in downtown Long Beach hospitalized a man and forced Metro to halt train service and run shuttle buses during the morning commute on April 1. And in 2024, a Compton man was sentenced to three years in state prison after pleading no contest to assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a fatal stabbing aboard an A Line train in Long Beach in April 2023, per the Long Beach Post.
Long Beach Police No Longer Patrol Metro Stations Full-Time
Monday's response fell to Long Beach police officers working regular city patrol beats rather than a dedicated transit unit. The department ended its $10.1 million annual transit policing contract with Metro in December 2024, reassigning 12 officers back to street patrols amid staffing shortages while still responding to station calls on an emergency basis, the Long Beach Post reported. LBPD had patrolled eight Long Beach Metro stations under that contract since 2017.
The contract's end came as Metro moves toward standing up its own police force. The agency appointed former San Francisco Police Chief William “Bill” Scott last year to lead a newly created Transit Community Public Safety Department, following a unanimous 2024 vote by the Metro Board to transition away from relying on LAPD, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and Long Beach police to patrol its system, according to CBS News Los Angeles.
Systemwide Numbers Show Improvement Even as Incidents Persist
Metro's broader safety data paints a more encouraging picture than any single incident might suggest. The agency reported in February that violent crime across its bus and rail network fell 6.7% in 2025 compared to the prior year, reaching its lowest level since 2021, while crimes against society dropped 33% — a decline Metro attributed to increased uniformed presence and enhanced station access controls. The agency's 2026-2027 budget set aside roughly $430 million for public safety, including $209.5 million for law enforcement contracts with LAPD and the Sheriff's Department alongside $87.6 million for care-based services such as Metro Ambassadors and homeless outreach teams, out of a total agency budget of $9.7 billion.
Those care-based efforts have also shown measurable results. A point-in-time survey released in August found a 57% reduction in unhoused individuals across the Metro system since 2024, estimating between 395 and 517 unhoused people remain on the network — a drop Hoodline reported on last month following Metro's launch of a Care-Based Services Division in January. Meanwhile, ridership keeps climbing: Metro logged nearly 26 million total boardings in July, marking eight consecutive months of systemwide growth fueled in part by regional events including FIFA World Cup matches, according to Smart Cities Dive.
Monday's incident remains under investigation, and Metro had not said when full A Line service would resume between Willow and Anaheim streets. Riders along the Long Beach Boulevard corridor are left once again weighing the agency's improving systemwide statistics against the visible disruption of another train pulled from service after gunfire.
