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Metro Atlanta’s transit system unveiled its new phone app Tuesday, touting the technology’s utility for planning and safety.

The announcement came the same day that federal prosecutors described the defendant accused in a third violent attack on Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority property in nearly as many weeks.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Anthony Gresham, 42, of Lithia Springs, in connection with the shooting Friday of a 17-year-old boy on a MARTA train.

“Gresham was allegedly undeterred by decades of prosecution for robberies, drug trafficking, and other crimes, which compounds the need for federal intervention in this case,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement Tuesday.

Gresham is accused of pulling a handgun from his bag and firing three times at the boy, Hertzberg said.

The boy had entered the train at the Midtown station. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for gunshot wounds to his left hand and leg.

The violence comes as MARTA updates its trains, stations and systems in preparation for visitors from across the globe for the FIFA World Cup, with the first match in Atlanta on June 15.

Gresham was charged with committing an act of violence with intent to cause serious bodily injury on a mass transportation system, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Hertzberg said Gresham had prior felony convictions in at least three different counties that would have precluded him from legally carrying a gun. The convictions included armed robbery, aggravated assault, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, burglary, theft, and robbery by force.

Many will probably ride a MARTA train from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, heading the same direction as Margaret Swan, 66, who was stabbed to death on May 30 as her train approached the Oakland City station on Atlanta’s south side.

John Elijah Matthews, 25, of Decatur, was arrested at that stop. He also was charged in federal court, in his case on June 2.

Hertzberg, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said the U.S. Attorney General would decide whether to seek the death penalty.

After Matthews was charged, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy ordered the Federal Transit Administration to investigate safety protocols and security spending because of the recent violence.

Prior to Swan’s death, a 40-year-old man survived being stabbed in an Atlanta MARTA station on May 24.

The transit agency said on Tuesday that its new app, available on phones running on Apple’s App Store and on the Google Play store, offers live train and bus tracking, trip planning and system alerts. It also allows riders to report safety concerns and incidents to MARTA police, and it works in several languages.

“MARTA is committed to improving the customer experience, whether it’s on our buses and trains, or when riders use our website or apps,” MARTA Interim General Manager and CEO Jonathan Hunt said.

The app was designed by the company Reflexions, which is also working on an update to the transit system’s website, itsmarta.com.