US shocker: How a woman was set on fire on a New York subway

In a chilling incident, a woman was set on fire on a stationary subway train in United States’ New York on Sunday (December 22) morning. The New York police have described the incident as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being”.

A man has been arrested in connection with the case, who the police say intentionally set the woman ablaze. Police are yet to identify the victim.

Let’s take a closer look.

What happened?

At about 07:30 local time (6 pm IST) on Sunday, the woman was in a subway carriage at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn when she was approached by the man, the police said.

According to New York City (NYC) Police Commissioner, Jessica Tisch, the two were riding the subway train without interaction with one another, reported Associated Press (AP).

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

Police believe the suspect used a lighter to burn the victim’s clothing, which “became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” Tisch was quoted as saying by AP.

Police say the two did not know each other.

The man got off the train as cops rushed to the fire.

“Officers were on patrol on an upper level of that station, smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate,” Tisch said, as per BBC.

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

Officials extinguished the fire and paramedics responding to the scene declared the woman dead.

The New York City police commissioner said the suspect stayed at the scene and was captured on a police body-worn camera, sitting on a bench at the station.

“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, and the body-worn cameras on the responding officers produced a very clear detailed look at the killer,” Tisch was quoted as saying by CNN.

While the police initially said the victim was sleeping at the time of the horrific attack, it is not clear whether she was asleep. However, she was “motionless” when the attack began, they said.

Police are yet to determine the motive for the attack.

How the suspect was arrested

The police shared the image of the suspect caught by the body cameras worn by the officers with the public.

Officers later received a tip-off from three teenagers who had recognised the man on another train.

The three high school students dialled 911 to report they had spotted the man. “New Yorkers came through again,” the New York City police commissioner said.

Officers located the man on another train in midtown Manhattan.

As per AP, New York Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta said transit officers then radioed ahead to the next station, where more officers kept the train doors shut.

They searched each subway carriage and arrested the “person of interest” without incident.

“This is amazing work done by the public and the police working together. Once again, someone saw something, we got it out through technology in numerous ways, and we were able to make a quick arrest on this nothing less than [a] heinous crime that occurred in our subway system," Gulotta said, as per CBS News.

He said the investigation was going on, including to find out whether the woman was homeless.

What we know about the suspect

The suspect was described as 5-foot-6, weighing 150 pounds (68 kg) and wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, grey wool hat, paint-splattered pants and tan boots at the time of the attack, as per CBS News.

The 33-year-old suspect was arrested at 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 told Fox News Digital that the man was identified as Sebastin Zapeta, whose legal status was unclear.

NYPD’s Gulotta said the man emigrated from Guatemala to the US in 2018.

The case was the second death reported in a New York subway on Sunday.

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

The older man was declared dead at a nearby hospital, while the other one was in stable condition, AP reported citing the police.

With inputs from agencies