A CTA janitor died after being stabbed as he tried to intervene in an attack on a Green Line train operator at the Damen/Lake stop Thursday afternoon, just blocks from the United Center.
Chicago police said just before 3 p.m. an unknown male approached the 41-year-old janitor inside the mezzanine area of the station, got into a verbal fight that then turned physical, and stabbed the victim in the neck.
Police sources said the incident began when a passenger on a CTA Green Line train maced a CTA operator on the train. During the altercation, a janitor who works for the CTA tried to intervene, and the person who attacked the train driver stabbed him.
The janitor was critically injured and was found unresponsive in a nearby room, police said. The attacker fled the station after the stabbing, headed west.
The janitor was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Pennie McCoach, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308, the union representing CTA rail workers, identified the janitor as 41-year-old Julian Mobley, who had worked for the CTA since 2018.
Mobley had been married for 20 years, and leaves behind a wife and two children, a 14-year-old and an 18-month-old.
"A gentle kind gentleman. He was a real man. You know, was he protective and would he help the operator? Maybe so, if he had saw something," said co-worker Audrey Vesley.
McCoach called the stabbing a failure of CTA to provide a safe work environment for its staff.
"This is unacceptable. This is not acceptable, and people should be able to go to work [and] come back home to their families," McCoach said. "Let's be clear, this is not a tragedy, this a safety failure."
Mobley was the second CTA worker killed on the job this year.
In June, CTA rail switch worker Thomas Barlow was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking near the 95th Street stop on the Red Line.
McCoach called for immediate changes in security measures for CTA workers.
"If nothing's done, the measurements of Local 308, we're going to look at other measurements that is going to cripple the city," she said.
In a statement, a CTA spokesperson said the agency "is deeply saddened by the death of a beloved CTA employee at the Damen Green Line station today. We extend our heartfelt condolences to our colleague's family, loved ones and coworkers."
"We are committed to supporting our employees and are always working with our public safety partners to strengthen protections for those who serve our riders every day," the spokesperson added.
No one was in custody Thursday evening. An investigation by Area Three detectives is ongoing.
The CTA said it is cooperating with the police investigation, and will share surveillance video footage with detectives.
"We will support law enforcement officials' efforts to ensure that the offender is apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," the CTA spokesperson said.
Chicago police have issued an internal bulletin featuring surveillance images of Mobley's killer, but have not yet released those images publicly.
