Man charged in connection with April 13 altercation on crowded MetroLink train is arrested

Carolyn P. Smith
·1 min read

A man has been charged in connection with an April 13 altercation during which a gun discharged on a MetroLink train in East St. Louis, according to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department.

John Goliday, 57, is charged with felon in possession of a firearm, said Master Sgt. Adam Quinn. The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s office issued the charge on Thursday.

Goliday was taken into custody at 2:08 p.m. Friday at the Fairview Heights MetroLink station without incident, said Sheriff’s Sgt. James Hendricks.

Altercation on the train

Here’s how authorities described what happened the night of the altercation.

After speaking with two witnesses who were on board the train and at the station at Fifth and Missouri that night, “we were able to determine that two individuals were on an eastbound train who had just come to Illinois from Missouri who were involved in a verbal disturbance on board the train,” Hendricks said at the time.

He said the verbal disturbance turned into a physical altercation, with one man hitting the other on the head with a gun. “During that battery the firearm went off and a bullet was discharged. It did not strike anybody,” Hendricks said.

Many of the people on board the train were returning from a Cardinals game.