Two people were injured in a stabbing aboard a METRO bus in north Houston Tuesday night, according to METRO. The incident happened at 10:15 p.m. on a Route 44 bus near West Montgomery Road and Dolley Wright Street, sending both victims to the hospital and putting a suspect in handcuffs before the night was over.
METRO said the two injured riders were transported to a local hospital, according to Click2Houston. Their injuries were described as non-life-threatening, per the same METRO account. METRO Police were called from the bus and responded to the scene, where they took the suspect into custody.
The incident remains under investigation, and additional details about what led to the stabbing were not immediately available, the outlet reported. No information has been released about the identities of those involved or what preceded the violence on the bus.
Part of a Troubling Pattern on the Transit System
Tuesday night's stabbing adds to a string of violent incidents that have rattled riders and raised questions about safety across the METRO system. Houston METRO has reported at least 11 incidents of violence — including fatal shootings and a stabbing — on buses, bus stops and rail platforms since May of the previous year, according to FOX 26 Houston. METRO Police Chief Ban Tien has pushed back on the idea that the violence reflects on the department broadly, telling the station, “I want to make it clear to everyone that does not define METRO PD and does not speak to the safety of people in this area.”
Crime data reviewed by ABC13 shows 378 major crimes were recorded across the METRO jurisdiction from October 2023 through September 2024, and DPS data showed METRO police investigated 493 major offenses in just the seven months before that report was published. In response, METRO has said it is adding officers to bus routes in hot spots across the system, and the agency has also moved to increase unarmed guards at transit centers from 80 to 120 ahead of the World Cup, per FOX 26.
Other Recent Stabbings on the System
Tuesday's incident echoes other violent episodes METRO has faced in recent months. A former METRO bus driver, identified as Keaton Nguyen, 55, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly chasing down and stabbing a passenger following a dispute over a missed stop near the 12400 block of Greenspoint Drive in December 2025, Click2Houston reported. Investigators in that case said the stabbing occurred after the fight had ended, when self-defense could no longer reasonably be argued, and Nguyen was granted a $50,000 bond.
That same altercation was first reported by Houston Public Media, which said the fight broke out around 9 p.m. at the Greenspoint Transit Center after a passenger made physical contact with the driver, who allegedly retrieved a sharp object and stabbed the customer once the bus had stopped at the station. In a separate case, FOX 26 reported that a stabbing near a METRO bus stop left one man dead after an argument among three men on a northbound bus resumed once they had exited; police said the suspect was detained by citizens at a nearby convenience store and that the weapon was later recovered.
No further updates on Tuesday night's Route 44 stabbing have been released. Hoodline will update this story as METRO and investigators share more information.
