How a woman was set on fire on a New York subway

In a frightening incident, a woman was set on fire on a stationary subway train in New York, USA on Sunday (December 22) morning. The New York Police Department described the incident as “one of the most depraved crimes a person can commit against another human being.”

A man was arrested in connection with the case and, according to police, intentionally set the woman on fire. Police have not yet identified the victim.

Let’s take a closer look.

What happened?

On Sunday around 7:30 a.m. local time (6 p.m. IST), the woman was on a subway car at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn when she was approached by the man, police said.

According to New York City (NYC) Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the two men were riding the subway without interacting with each other. Associated Press (AP).

After the train stopped, the man was captured on car surveillance video “calmly” approaching the victim. The woman appeared motionless, suggesting she may have been sleeping.

Police believe the suspect used a lighter to burn the victim’s clothes, which “were completely engulfed within seconds,” Tisch was quoted as saying by AP.

Police say the two men did not know each other.

The man got off the train as police rushed toward the fire.

“Officers were patrolling a higher level of this station, smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate,” Tisch said, according to BBC.

“What they saw was a person standing inside the train car that was fully engulfed in flames.”

Authorities put out the fire and paramedics responding to the scene pronounced the woman dead.

The New York City Police Commissioner said the suspect remained at the scene and was captured on a police body-worn camera sitting on a station bench.

“Unbeknownst to the responding officers, the suspect had remained at the scene and was sitting on a bench on the platform just outside the train car, and the responding officers’ body-worn cameras produced a very clear and detailed overview of the killer. ” Tisch was quoted as saying by CNN.

Although police initially said the victim was asleep at the time of the horrific attack, it is unclear if she was asleep. However, she was “still” when the attack began, they said.

Police have not yet determined the motive for the attack.

How the suspect was arrested

Police shared with the public the image of the suspect captured by officers’ body cameras.

Officers then received a tip from three teenagers who recognized the man on another train.

The three high school students called 911 to report that they had spotted the man. “New Yorkers have come back again,” said the
new York » declared the city police commissioner.

Officers located the man on another train in midtown Manhattan.

According to P.A.New York Police Department (NYPD) transit chief Joseph Gulotta said transit officers then radioed to the next station, where other officers guarded the train doors closed.

They searched every subway car and arrested the “person of interest” without incident.

“This is incredible work done by the public and the police working together. Once again, someone saw something, we discovered it through technology in numerous ways, and we were able to make a quick arrest for nothing less than a ()heinous crime that occurred in our system metro,” Gulotta said, according to CBS News.

He said the investigation was ongoing, including whether the woman was homeless.

What we know about the suspect

The suspect was 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighed 150 pounds (68 kg) and was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, a gray wool hat, paint-splattered pants and beige boots at the time of the attack, according to CBS News.

The suspect, aged 33, was arrested at the Herald Square station near the Empire State Building in Manhattan.

The police commissioner said the suspect was found with a lighter in his pocket.

Sources said Fox News Digital that the man had been identified as Sebastin Zapeta, whose legal status was unclear.

Gulotta of the NYPD said the man emigrated from Guatemala to the United States in 2018.

This is the second death reported Sunday on a New York subway.

Police also responded to reports of an assault at the 61st Street-Woodside police station in Queens at 12:35 a.m. (11:05 a.m. IST). They found a 37-year-old man stabbed in the torso and a 26-year-old man with multiple slits all over his body.

The older man was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, while the other was in stable condition. P.A. reported quoting the police.

With the contribution of agencies