Hundreds of Amtrak Passengers Affected After Reported Gunman on Train

Sep 18, 2016, 01:30

Amtrak identified the man as 46-year-old Oxnard resident Darius Palmer.

Almost 200 passengers on the train bound for San Diego were evacuated Friday night after several reported seeing a man with a weapon.

Early on Saturday morning, police arrested a man who had spent the previous eight hours or so barricaded in the bathroom of an Amtrak train in Chathsworth.

The investigation is happening in Chatsworth, a neighborhood of Los Angeles.

All passengers aboard the train were safe, and accounted for. According to Amtrak, the crew members and passengers were provided alternative transportation to their destinations.

"Someone reported that he dropped a gun-likely was then reported to the train folks-and that's when things escalated", said Allison Bird, a passenger, to KABC. Amtrak provided buses to take the passengers to a new train elsewhere, but those who went were unable to take their luggage since it remained on the original train There were no reports of shots fired.

SWAT Team officers and crisis negotiators were dispatched to the train station, Montenegro told ABC News. Amtrak trains 564 and 573 were canceled Saturday, according to the company's spokesperson, but passengers would be accommodated on other trains.

Passengers can check rifles, shotguns and handguns if they meet certain requirements, including notifying the rail agency beforehand, unloading the weapons and storing them in locked containers.

As for train service, the halt caused major delays on both Metrolink Ventura County Line and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service.