A man has been arrested in connection with the tragic death of a woman who was set on fire aboard a subway train in Brooklyn, New York.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the incident on Sunday “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.” The woman was on a stationary F train bound for Brooklyn when a man approached her and used a lighter to ignite her clothing.
The victim, whose identity has not yet been revealed, died at the scene. The suspect was arrested later that day after a group of high school students recognized him on another subway train and alerted authorities.
According to police, the woman was sitting in a subway car at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station around 7:30 AM local time (12:30 GMT) when the attack occurred. There was no prior interaction between the two, and authorities do not believe they knew each other. After the attack, the man exited the train as officers on patrol noticed smoke and rushed to the scene.
“Officers were on patrol on an upper level of the station when they smelled and saw smoke. They immediately went to investigate,” Commissioner Tisch said. “What they found was a person fully engulfed in flames inside the train car.”
The suspect remained at the scene, seated on a bench just outside the train. Officers, unaware of his presence, were able to clearly observe his appearance. Images of the suspect were quickly disseminated by the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Later, three local high school students saw the suspect on a different subway train and called 911. Thanks to their quick thinking, officers were able to track him down and arrest him at Herald Square station, near the Empire State Building in Manhattan. A lighter was found in his pocket at the time of his arrest.
“I want to thank the young people who called 911,” Tisch said. “They saw something, they said something, and they did something.”
The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, emigrated from Guatemala to the United States in 2018. Detectives are still investigating the motive behind the attack and trying to determine if the victim was asleep when she was set on fire.
“She was definitely motionless at the scene,” said NYPD detective Joseph Gulotta. “We’re not 100% sure if she was asleep, but it appears she was completely still when the attack occurred. There was no interaction between the two before or after the incident.”
Authorities continue to investigate the case.
