New York City police reported on Sunday that they have detained a “person of interest” in connection with the tragic death of a woman. Authorities believe the woman may have fallen asleep on a stationary subway train and was then intentionally set on fire by an unknown man.
Transit police managed to capture the suspect after three high school students recognized him. They had seen images of the man that were disseminated widely by police from surveillance and body camera footage.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch commended the quick actions of the public, stating, “New Yorkers came through again,” and described this incident as one of the most shocking crimes imaginable against another individual.
Tisch detailed that both the suspect and the victim, whose identities have not been made public, were passengers on a subway train that traveled to the end of the line in Brooklyn at around 7:30 a.m. They did not interact while on the train.
Surveillance footage from the subway car showed the man approaching the seated woman—who appeared to be sleeping—and igniting her clothing with what looked like a lighter. Within seconds, considerable flames engulfed her clothing, according to Tisch.
Authorities indicated that the woman and the man did not know each other prior to this incident.
Officers who were conducting a routine patrol at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station detected smoke and found the woman ablaze in the train car. Emergency medical responders pronounced her dead at the scene after extinguishing the fire.
Remarkably, the suspect remained nearby and was found seated on a bench on the subway platform right outside the train car. Officers’ body cameras provided a clear view of him, and those images were shared with the public.
Following a 911 call from the teenagers, transit officers located the man on a different subway train and coordinated with officers at the next station. They successfully detained him without any complications while ensuring the train doors remained closed. Tisch noted that the man had a lighter in his possession upon his arrest.
Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta indicated that the investigation is ongoing, which includes inquiries into whether the woman was homeless and further details about the suspect’s background.
This incident marked the second fatality on New York’s subway system that day. Earlier at 12:35 a.m., police responded to an emergency call about an ongoing assault at the 61st Street-Woodside Station in Queens. They discovered a 37-year-old man who had suffered a stab wound to his torso, as well as a 26-year-old man with multiple slash wounds. Sadly, the older man succumbed to his injuries at a nearby hospital, while the younger man was reported to be in stable condition.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has previously deployed National Guard members to assist police with random bag checks for weapons in the subway, in light of several notorious crimes on the trains this year. She has also sent more personnel to patrol during the holiday season.
Around a year ago, Hochul backed funding for the installation of video cameras in all subway cars, a move supported by Michael Kemper, chief security officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. On the same day, officials acknowledged that these cameras played a significant role in swiftly identifying the suspect.
