SAN FRANCISCO — A man suspected of slashing a woman with a knife on a BART train earlier this month has been charged by prosecutors with one count of attempted murder, authorities said Tuesday.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins made the announcement regarding 34-year-old Jovany Portades and added that the charge includes enhancements that he used a deadly weapon; that he tried to inflict great bodily injury on purpose; and that Portades is ineligible for probation. Prosecutors want Portades detained before trial, with Jenkins saying he poses a public safety threat.
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Portades was scheduled to be arraigned at San Francisco’s Hall of Justice on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.
Police arrested Portades at the Fruitvale station on Nov. 3, one day after the alleged attack on the 54-year-old woman. According to prosecutors, Portades slashed the woman’s neck, face and mouth from behind as the Antioch-bound BART train they rode approached the 24th Street/Mission station. Portades exited the train and fled after the attack, authorities said.
“Public transit systems must be safe for all passengers,” Jenkins said in a statement, adding that the attack “was tragic and truly shocking” and that the slashing “sent chills across the Bay Area as we live in a deeply interconnected region where what happens in one jurisdiction echoes across city and county lines.”
The woman got off the train at the same station and received help from BART and San Francisco police officers. An ambulance later took her to a hospital for care of what were life-threatening injuries.
Portades has a lengthy criminal record, with seven previous convictions from a multitude of charges that have resulted in both time served and parole. Before the BART attack. prosecutors had a charge of second-degree robbery with violence or bodily harm and violent conduct pending for a January 2024 incident at a Kohl’s store, according to court records.
Court documents said in that incident, Portades stole a bag of merchandise worth $180, hitting and injuring the store’s security officer while trying to escape. Alameda police arrested Portades that time.