When Love Turns Sour, Metra Edition

By Anthony Todd in News on Oct 7, 2008 6:05PM

When you hear the phrase “train attacked by hit man,” you might think of John Wayne heroically defending rail cargo from villains wearing kerchiefs or perhaps (if you’re feeling more obscure) Steven Segal’s unfortunate appearance in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory [Ed.'s Note - "Unfortunate"? I beg to differ. - MG]. What you don’t immediately think of is our fair Metra. But back in 2007, according to charges revealed yesterday, the Metra was the site of a bizarre marriage-turned-murder-attempt worthy of a bad action movie.

According to court records, Thomas Howard beat up his wife, a Metra engineer, after she had decided to end their nearly 20-year long relationship in June of 2006. He threatened to kill her if she didn’t stop the divorce action, and a court issued a protection order the next month.

Here’s where the story gets really crazy. Howard hired his friend Telly Virgin to kill his ex-wife. Virgin opened fire on Metra trains with a 25-caliber handgun twice: once each on June 6th and 8th, 2007 as they were approaching the Stewart Ridge station at 121st street. Luckily, Telly had his schedules wrong; as it turns out, Howard’s ex-wife wasn’t on either train and no one was injured.

Thomas Howard was arrested by the FBI Sunday night at his house and has been charged with interference in the operation of a train and weapons charges. [Trib]

Photo by Nick Suydam