“What were they (two white girls) doing there?”
Let’s clear that one up fast. The attack happened at the Fort Totten station, which is in far northeast just shy of the DC/Maryland line. Fort Totten is one stop outbound on the Red line from Brookland/Catholic University and three stops short of College Park/University of Maryland, also on the Red line. It is also a transfer station with an intersection with the Green and Yellow lines.
My guess is that the transfer station is one of the keys to understanding the situation. The gang probably planned to rob someone on the Red line, hop off at Fort Totten and jump on a southbound Green line train before police could react. The Green line would take them back across town to far Southeast. Or possibly the girls who were robbed were coming up from downtown on the Green line and planned to transfer to Red. Slightly different tactical situation but the key thing is the ability of the robbers to switch lines without surfacing (which would mean dashing past any Metro or DC police patrolling the station and immediate environs, which is a good bet late at night).
People not familiar with the Metro system should be aware that it was the gang members, not the girls who were robbed, who were far off their turf. I’ve not seen much followup, but iirc, the victims were Maryland students, presumably on their way back to campus. If you look at the video, the car is not crowded but there are several other passengers, mostly white, sitting quietly. There is also one black girl, one of the good guys and possibly another student, who is arguing with the gang.
A lot of Metro robberies are snatch, grab, and run, where the perps grab something and try to dive out the door just as it closes, thus cutting off pursuit. In this case, the girl who was robbed pursued to the platform, and there was a fight. This is what generated the news.
A good rule on Metro is to keep your phone in your pocket and laptops/tablets stowed in a bag. Especially if you are sitting by the door. And keep on eye on likely suspects. Basic situational awareness.
The southern end of the Green Line serves some tough areas. That’s why a disproportionate number of ugly incidents occur along it. I’m also not big on public transit of any kind in any city at 11:00 p.m. Not that I haven’t been caught late myself a few times, but the risks do go up.
Thanks for clearing that up; efforts to extend the PATH (which reaches from mid-town Manhattan to Newark NJ) further west from Newark were successfully opposed by the wealthy suburbs to the west because they knew what would be coming into their tranquil suburbs if that was done. Southwest of Newark some towns successfully fought having any highway exit ramps into them; same logic.
For all of their haughtiness in dealing with Southerners (NJ itself only outlawed slavery 15 years before the Civil War), NJ is a very segregated state.