Reginald Anthony Klaiber.

The stabbing of a 15-year-old transgender girl on the Green Line yesterday is being investigated as a hate crime, according to Metro.

Reginald Anthony Klaiber of Greenbelt, Md. was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly stabbed the girl in the back on a train approaching the Fort Totten station. According to a release, the 24-year-old man was arrested while attempting to flee with a 3.5-inch folding knife.

Witnesses told Metro Transit Police detectives that Klaiber “made bias-motivated remarks about the victim’s transgender status immediately prior to the assault.” Jae-la White, a 19-year-old friend of the victim, went into detail with the Washington Blade.

“He came to my friend and said you have red hair,” White said. “My friend said ok, and then he said, ‘Oh, you’re a man!’”

“Then he started bothering my friend,” said White. “My friend got up out of her seat to go by the door while the train was moving and told him to please leave her alone. He faced her and said I will stab you up and blow your brains out.”

In a harrowing account of what followed, White said the attacker next “started to hug” the victim in a sexually suggestive way. Seconds later, White said, the victim began to scream and White and their other friend, a 17-year-old man, realized that the attacker was stabbing their friend.

White told the Blade the 17-year-old friend used pepper spray to attempt to subdue Klaiber, but the attack continued on the platform until police arrived. The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and, according to Metro, was in stable condition at a local hospital.

Klaiber will appear in D.C. Superior Court today, and, if convicted, could face a bias-related enhancement on his sentence.

In 2013, the Metropolitan Police Department handled 31 hate crimes over sexual orientation and 12 over gender identity/expression.