A good old fashioned train robbery?

From The San Fransisco Chronicle:

The engineer of an Amtrak Capitol Corridor train was seriously injured Monday night in West Sacramento after a group of people forced the train to stop, dragged the engineer from the train and assaulted him with rocks and bottles, according to Capitol Corridor officials.

The attack occurred as the train from the Bay Area neared the I Street Bridge to Sacramento's rail station and slowed for a signal, said Eugene Skoropowski, managing director of the Capitol Corridor. A group of people stood on the tracks to block the train, which stopped. When the engineer went downstairs and opened the door, he was dragged off the train and assaulted, Skoropowski said.

The engineer, who was taken by ambulance to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, suffered head injuries and possible internal injuries, Skoropowski said. The engineer remains hospitalized.

Skoropowski is calling for more police patrols in the area, for all vegetation around the rails to be removed, for federal agencies to consider filing federal charges in the case, for Union Pacific Railroad to take steps to speed trains through the area, and for additional security measures, including night-vision cameras.

This is not a particularly good example of newspaper reporting. For example why was the train stopped and the engineer attacked? Was it a train robbery or were the attackers environmental terrorists angry because the train was emitting greenhouse gas? Were they terrorists, or were they just punks out for a good time?

Was it gang related? There are a number of gangs active in the San Francisco area. Some are Asian and some are Latino and some are black. Could the fact that the attackers were members of some racial minority be the reason that the paper didn't go into any detail about the exact nature of the incident?

Many questions, few answers.