Woman dies after being set on fire on NYC subway
A man has been arrested in New York in connection with the death of a woman who was set on fire on a subway train in Brooklyn.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the incident on Sunday “one of the most depraved crimes one person could commit against another.”
She explained that the woman was on a stationary F train heading to Brooklyn when a man approached her and used a lighter to set her clothes on fire.
The woman died at the scene, and the suspect was apprehended after being identified by a group of high school students while he was riding the subway later that day.
Police confirmed that the unnamed woman was on a subway train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn around 7:30 a.m. (12:30 GMT) when the man approached her.
There was no prior interaction between them, and authorities do not believe they knew each other. The man fled the scene as officers responding to the fire arrived at the station.
“Officers were on patrol on an upper level of that station, smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate,” Ms Tisch said.
“What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames.”
Police are still working to identify the victim and the motive for the attack.
“Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car,” Ms Tisch added.
She explained responding officers were able to get a “very clear, detailed” look at the man and images were disseminated by the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Later, three high school-aged New Yorkers called 911 to report they recognised the suspect on another train, Ms Tisch told reporters.
The man was then located after officers boarded the train and walked through the subway carriages.
He was arrested at Herald Square station – which is located in near to the Empire State Building in Manhattan.
The man was found with a lighter in his pocket, the police commissioner said.
“I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help,” Ms Tisch added.
“They saw something, they said something and they did something.”
The man, who was not publicly identified, emigrated from Guatemala to the US in 2018, the NYPD’s Joseph Gulotta said.
Gulotta explained detectives are still trying to establish whether the victim was asleep when she was set on fire.
“She’s definitely there, she’s motionless,” Mr Gulotta added.
“So to say if she’s asleep or not, we’re not 100% sure, but it appears that she’s motionless at that spot.
“There is no interaction between the two. And when the incident happens, there is no interaction between them.”
