Earlier victim of alleged BART killer: 'I wish he would get the death penalty'

OAKLAND, Calif. -- At age 18, he beat up a man and sucker-punched the man's daughter outside their Concord home. At 22, he battered a victim in Walnut Creek. Three years later, while robbing an El Cerrito grocery store, he threatened a security guard with a box cutter and a fake gun.

Long before he was accused of stabbing 18-year-old Nia Wilson to death Sunday night at Oakland's MacArthur BART Station, John Lee Cowell was trouble. He was in and out of jail and repeatedly harassed and threatened people, some of whom obtained restraining orders, court records show.

But even as a picture emerged of the 27-year-old Cowell as he sat in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on Tuesday, awaiting a decision on potential charges by Alameda County prosecutors, the motive in this week's seemingly unprovoked stabbing of Wilson and her sister -- who survived -- remained elusive.

Some shocked community members, including hundreds who took to the streets of Oakland Monday night, have questioned whether the attack was racially motivated, because Cowell is white and Wilson was black. But BART police Chief Carlos Rojas said investigators have not found evidence, at least not yet, of a hate crime.

And Cowell, who was described as transient, appears to have a history of mental illness, having once been evaluated for competence to stand trial and understand the proceedings, according to court records.

One thing is certain: those who have encountered Cowell in the past aren't surprised he would do something terrible.

``I wish he would get the death penalty for what he did to that poor little girl. She didn't deserve it,'' said 51-year-old Shane Glick, the man who was beaten up by Cowell and three other teens outside his Concord home nearly a decade ago.

Cowell, who is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in an Oakland courtroom, was arrested roughly 21 hours after the attack on Wilson and her 26-year-old sister, Lahtifa Wilson. BART police said the suspect returned to the transit system Monday and was nabbed on an Antioch-bound train after being spotted by other riders who tipped off officers.

BART was already familiar with Cowell and had confronted him just four days before the stabbing for fare evasion, officials said.

The killing has raised questions about safety on BART, which has seen violent crime go up 69 percent in the past decade. The slaying was the third possible homicide in recent days on the system.

Before allegedly graduating to murder, Cowell was known as a troubled kid in a gritty neighborhood in Concord. He and other teens would hang out at Hillcrest Community Park near Glick's home, about a tenth of a mile from where Cowell lived with his family at the Adobe Mobile Lodge mobile-home park.

Glick said that when he confronted the group in 2009 about his home being burglarized, they began their beating. When his daughter came outside while on the phone with police, Crowell sucker-punched her. He was charged with felony assault.

At the mobile home park on Tuesday, a resident named Ty, who would not give his last name, described Cowell's violent behavior over the past 12 years, saying, ``He just wasn't in a normal state of mind.'' Cowell's dad lived at the park for many years.

``He would come and would just start disrespecting his dad,'' Ty said. ``His dad would try to keep it cool and he would bring him in and let him stay the night and visit but inevitably it would turn into something. It got physical.''

Another resident of the mobile home park, Primitivo Alvarado, 38, said he was forced to install surveillance cameras at his home after Cowell tried to break into his unit last month.

``I opened my window (curtain) a little and it's this guy in the window,'' he said Tuesday, pointing to Cowell's mugshot. ``The cameras showed him knocking on my doors and trying to open the doors. Two times he wanted to open this (front) door and then he went into the back.''

In 2013, Cowell was convicted of battery for an attack in Walnut Creek. Two years later, he was popped for being under the influence of methamphetamine and sentenced to 90 days in jail, records show.

Cowell eventually became homeless. In 2015, an aunt filed a restraining order against him in Contra Costa County Superior Court after he came into her home ``under the influence of drugs and yelled and threatened me,'' she wrote.

The aunt and many of Cowell's other relatives did not return phone calls Tuesday. One family member who declined to comment said he had not spoken to Cowell for 12 to 15 years.

In April of 2016, Cowell walked into the emergency room at Kaiser Hospital in Richmond and verbally accosted the receptionist, she said.

``Where the f-- is my backpack?'' he was quoted as saying in an application for a restraining order filed by the woman. ``How the f-- do you not know where it is you crack headed bitch?''

The woman said she was familiar with Cowell, who repeatedly ``threatens my life.''

A month later, Cowell stole several items from a Lucky store at 1000 El Cerrito Plaza, pulling a replica gun and a box cutter on a guard who tried to stop him. In that case, police reported arresting Cowell in a familiar place -- on the platform of the El Cerrito BART Station.

At one point, Cowell's competency to participate in his own defense was questioned, but the case continued. He was sentenced to two years in prison and sent to state lock-up in October 2016. He was released May 6, less than three months before the BART attack.