A would-be mugger handed a woman a note on BART train saying guns were pointed at her, so she faked a seizure

Sept. 18, 2017 9:10 PM PT

A woman was riding a Bay Area Rapid Transit train on Friday afternoon when someone behind her handed her an ominous note.

“There are 2 guns pointed at you now,” the note read. “If you want to live hand back your wallet & phone NOW & do not turn around and be descreet. Do not turn around until after you have left civic center & you will live.”

Julie Dragland, 32, didn’t hand over any of her possessions, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Instead, she faked a seizure, drawing other passengers’ attention and prompting the would-be mugger to exit the train.

“When I read the note, I started freaking out,” Dragland told the Chronicle. “I did not want to give up my stuff, but I had no idea who was behind me.”

In its online crime log, BART police said a female passenger reported being handed a note on a train to Dublin.

“The victim faked a medical problem to attract attention and reported the incident to police, but did not want to speak to an officer,” the log states, without mentioning her name. “The victim later contacted an officer in Oakland and provided more information.”

The woman, authorities said, thought the person sitting behind her on the train was a white female who was pulling a suitcase. BART officers checked the Civic Center Station in San Francisco but did not find anyone matching that description.

BART police said late Monday, however, that surveillance footage corroborates the woman’s initial report.

Video from the train shows a woman, possibly in her 30s with long strawberry blond hair, seated behind the victim, who was alone. The woman reached over the victim’s shoulder, officials said, at which point the victim faked a medical problem.

At least two passengers checked on her. That’s when the suspect got up and got off the train at the Powell Street Station.

Authorities said there’s no indication from the video the suspect was armed.

The female passenger said she would not press charges if the suspect was located, according to BART police.

Dragland told the Chronicle that, after receiving the note, she mouthed “help me” to a man standing nearby. But after that man exited the train, she pretended to have a seizure to draw other people’s attention. She slumped to the side and started shaking and crying, she said.

When a couple approached to ask if she was OK, she handed them the note, the Chronicle reported. She thought the would-be mugger exited at Civic Center, which was the next stop.

Dragland told the Chronicle she had the idea to fake a seizure because she watched a lot of “Law & Order.”

Times staff writer Alene Tchekmedyian contributed to this report.

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Twitter: @haileybranson

UPDATES:

9:10 p.m.: This article was updated with a surveillance photo of the suspect.

This article was originally published at 12:10 p.m.