The woman, who has not been identified, was asleep on a train in the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn around 7:30 a.m. when an unknown man approached her and used a lighter to set fire to one's clothes
Police have arrested a man who they say set fire to a sleeping woman on a New York subway train on Sunday, December 22. The latter, who has not been identified, was dozing aboard a train in the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn around 7:30 a.m. when an unknown person approached her and used a lighter to set his clothes on fire, the New York Police Department said. She said there was no interaction before the attack and the two people did not appear to know each other.
The man emigrated from Guatemala in 2018
The man got out of the car as police officers patrolling the station rushed to help. “The fire spread in seconds”New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference. Officers used fire extinguishers to put out the fire but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders, police said.
“The suspect remained at the scene and was sitting on a bench on the platform, just outside the carriage”said Jessica Tisch, quoted by the BBC . Three New York high school students called 911 to report that they had recognized the suspect in another car, the police commissioner further clarified.
The man, who has not been publicly identified, emigrated from Guatemala to the United States in 2018, NYPD Transportation Chief Joseph Gulotta said at a news conference. He was found with a lighter in his pocket, Jessica Tisch said. “I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help”. Police said they were still investigating the identity of the victim and the reason for the attack.
About 4 million trips are made each weekday on the city's subway, where violent crime is relatively rare. As of November, nine homicides had been reported in the metro in 2024, compared to five during the same period in 2023, according to police data.
