SEPTA gives timeline for death of teenager found on train

SEPTA has confirmed the timeline of events that led to a teen being found dead Friday atop a Regional Rail train at Jefferson Station.

Raekwon Jones, 15, of the Mill Creek neighborhood in West Philadelphia, was killed after climbing on top of a train at Suburban Station at 12:57 a.m., when an electrical fault was recorded, SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel said at a news conference Wednesday. Jones' body wasn't found for another seven hours.

Footage shows Jones entering the station at 12:37 a.m. and walking toward the end of the train he died on "shortly before" 12:57 a.m., Nestel said.

A fire alarm was sounded on the concourse level of Suburban Station at 1:06 a.m. The Philadelphia Fire Department and SEPTA police responded and searched the station. No one, though, noticed the teen's body on top of the train. The fire department left at 1:43 a.m.

Jones' body was discovered at 7:11 a.m. after a passenger at Jefferson Station saw something on top of the train and notified SEPTA workers. The train had left Suburban Station at 5:33 a.m. heading toward Chestnut Hill West Station before stopping at Jefferson Station.

Jones was electrocuted, the Philadelphia medical examiner confirmed Wednesday. The manner of death was ruled accidental.

SEPTA have been in contact with Jones' mother and the family's lawyer, Nestel said.

Nestel said transit police were in the station when Jones died. It is standard procedure for SEPTA police to search the station and remove anyone found at closing time.

SEPTA will review its procedures following Jones' death, as it does after every "critical incident," Nestel said.

He added that there are multiple signs on SEPTA Regional Rail trains warning against touching or climbing on them.

"I don't know that we'll ever know why he got on top of that train," Nestel said.