A 65-year-old passenger riding the CTA Red Line was beaten by three people who then dragged him off the train at the Clark/Division stop and sprayed paint into his mouth, according to Chicago police. The attack happened shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 at the station in Old Town, on the Near North Side, and investigators are now asking the public for help identifying the three people responsible.
Chicago police released surveillance images this week showing the three wanted individuals, as reported by CBS News. One identifying detail stands out in the images: police say one of the suspects has the numbers 5718 tattooed on the fingers of his left hand, a mark investigators hope the public can help recognize.
Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 312-745-4477 or submit an anonymous tip at CPDTIP.com using reference number JK446326, per the same report. No further details about the passenger's condition, the suspects' identities, or a motive for the attack have been released.
Another Red Line Attack Just Weeks Earlier
The Clark/Division assault comes 17 days after a separate, unrelated attack on the same line. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, police are still seeking an unidentified person accused of pulling and throwing a woman to the ground aboard a Red Line train in the 1200 block of North Clark Street, leaving her with multiple rib fractures. That attack happened at about 10:40 p.m., and police in that case asked anyone with information to call detectives at 312-745-4447 or submit a tip using reference number JK423622.
A System Already Under Federal Scrutiny
Both incidents land amid a broader surge in violence on Chicago transit. Aggravated assaults and batteries on the CTA reached at least a 24-year high in 2025, the Sun-Times has reported, with those crimes climbing 33% in 2026 compared with the same period the year before. Chicago police recorded 469 aggravated assaults and batteries on the CTA in 2025, up from 441 in 2024, and the train stops with the most aggravated attacks that year were Clark/Lake and the Red Line stops at 63rd Street and Lake Street. More than half of all CTA aggravated attacks in 2025 happened aboard trains and buses themselves.
The trend has drawn federal attention. The Federal Transit Administration issued Special Directive 25-3 to the CTA on Dec. 8, 2025, requiring immediate, measurable corrective actions to reduce assaults on transit workers and passengers. The CTA was given until March 19 to propose a revised safety plan or risk having up to $50 million in funding withheld, the Sun-Times has reported.
CTA Points to Early Gains From Added Patrols
The CTA has pointed to some improvement since ramping up law-enforcement presence. Assaults against transit workers fell 25% in January and 29% in February compared with the six-month average before the December security boost, and the agency said systemwide crime fell 9% over that same stretch compared with the prior year, according to the Chicago Tribune. Separately, increased patrols have been part of the CTA's response.
Still, the numbers underline how far Chicago trails comparable transit systems. In 2024, the CTA reported 20.7 passenger assaults per 100 million passenger miles, while peer agencies reported rates ranging from just 4 to 9.5 per 100 million miles, the Tribune found. CTA workers fared similarly poorly, logging 6.9 assaults per 100 million passenger miles that year against a range of 1.0 to 3.5 at comparable agencies. Most other transit systems saw their assault rates drop as ridership recovered; Chicago's instead climbed steadily through 2024, though reports of passenger assaults did begin falling in 2025.
For now, the Oct. 9 attack at Clark/Division remains unsolved, with police relying on the public to help identify the three people caught on surveillance footage.
