El Cerrito BART shooting: 17-year-old man shot by police expected to survive, officials say

EL CERRITO, Calif. (KGO) -- A man who was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being shot by BART police at the El Cerrito del Norte on Saturday afternoon is expected to survive, the transit district said Sunday morning.

Police say a 17-year-old was shot and flown to a hospital in a helicopter where he had life-threatening injuries.

BART Police Chief Ed Alverez said the incident occurred around 2 p.m.

Two officers were responding to a domestic disturbance call of a man and woman in a verbal argument. The person who made the call said one of them had a gun.

"The officers got onto the platform, challenged the individual who then ran off the train down the platform, and then onto our trackway. At which point a gun was produced by the suspect and our officers ultimately shot- recovering a gun," Alverez said.

BART police recovered the suspect's weapon involved in the incident at the El Cerrito del Norte BART station, police said.

A witness to the shooting did not want ABC7 News to show her face on camera.

She said she was sitting on BART when the young man and police ran through her car.

"They chased this boy through the train, out the train, on the platform - I guess he jumped on the tracks. And that's when they shot him. About seven or eight times. And then you just smelled gun powder."

Melanie Turner was another witness and said passengers were trying to console the young woman that was with him.

"She was just saying how old he was. He's only 17, he's only 17. And that scared me. That really scared me, another child was injured and we don't know the reason why," Turner said.

Around 10:30 p.m. Saturday evening, train service at El Cerrito Del Norte and Richmond resumed.

Bay City News contributed to this report