The 33-year-old Honduran man accused of stabbing a fellow light rail passenger on the Lynx Blue Line last week is now facing federal charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that Oscar Solarzano-Garcia is charged with committing violence on a mass transportation system and reentering the country after deportation. He’s accused of stabbing Kenyon Dobie, who has serious chest injuries.
This is the second light rail stabbing in four months, something that U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson says is worrisome.
“Everyone who rides the light rail is a victim of this crime today," Ferguson said. "People use it because they have disabilities and they can’t drive. They use it to go to work, or to return from work, like Iryna Zarutska was.”
Solarzano-Garcia is an undocumented immigrant from Honduras who had been deported twice before. But Ferguson said last month’s immigration enforcement crackdown missed him.
“There’s no record of these people coming into the United States, or being in the United States, or where they are in the United States," Ferguson said. “And they didn’t get Mr. Solarzano-Garcia, but I certainly wish they had, because we would have saved a very bad incident.”
If convicted, Solarzano-Garcia faces life in federal prison. He is also facing state charges, including attempted first-degree murder.
