Woman dies after being set on fire in NYC subway train; person of interest in custody
NEW YORK CITY - A person of interest was taken into custody in the death of a woman who was set on fire Sunday inside a Brooklyn subway train, the NYPD said.
According to police, the victim, as well as the 33-year-old person of interest, were both riding the F train just before 7:30 a.m. to the Stillwell Avenue Subway station in Coney Island. Police do not believe the two knew one another.
When the train stopped at the end of the line, police said the man calmly walked up to the seated woman and set her on fire with his lighter. The woman's clothing then "became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds," NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Sunday press conference.
"Officers who were on patrol on an upper level of that station smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate. What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames," Tisch said.
The woman, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
"With the help of an MTA employee and a fire extinguisher, the flames were put out. Unfortunately, it was too late," Tisch said.
Transit police apprehended the man after receiving a report from three high school students who had recognized him. They had seen images of the suspect taken from surveillance and police body cam video and widely distributed by police.
"New Yorkers came through again," Tisch said, describing the case as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being."
Unbeknownst to the officers, the man had remained at the scene and was seated on a bench on the subway platform, just outside the train car, Tisch said. Body cameras worn by the officers caught a "very clear, detailed look" at the suspect and those images were publicly disseminated.
After later receiving a 911 call from the teenagers, other transit officers identified the man on another subway train and radioed ahead to the next station, where more officers kept the train doors closed, searched each car and ultimately apprehended him without incident, said Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta. The man had a lighter in his pocket when he was taken into custody, Tisch said.
"This individual is recognized at the Jay and York Street station on the F line," said NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta. "That individual arrived here looks like 2018 from Guatemala."
Gulotta said the investigation was continuing, including whether the woman was homeless and the background of the man, who has yet to be formally ID’d or charged.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).