NEW YORK — A woman died after being set on fire while sleeping in a New York City subway car Sunday morning, police said.
A person of interest in the Brooklyn attack was arrested later in the day, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at an early evening news conference.
The police have not yet been able to identify the victim.
Police said the person of interest arrived in the United States from Guatemala in 2018. So far, no charges have been filed, but investigators continue to question him and try to determine his motive .
“I want you to know that this arrest is part of what has become a series of joint efforts involving different crimes between the police and the public we serve,” Tisch said. “In today’s case, we were able to obtain incredibly clear and detailed images of the suspect during the initial incident. Then we asked the media to disseminate these images widely so that we could use the public as a force multiplier – and New Yorkers are back again.”
Thanks to images obtained by the train’s security cameras, the police and the public had a very clear idea of the man they were looking for. Tisch credited three school-aged New Yorkers with seeing the person of interest and calling 911, leading to his capture.
The NYPD had offered a $10,000 reward for information about the incident.
NYPD describes how attack happened
The person of interest was 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 150 pounds, approximately 25 to 30 years old. She was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, a gray wool hat, paint-splattered pants and beige boots at the time of the attack.
Tisch said the man was on an F train while stopping at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn around 7:30 a.m. when he approached the sleeping woman, then put the fire with what was thought to be a lighter one. She added that the victim’s clothes were completely engulfed within seconds.
Police said there appeared to be no interaction between the victim and her attacker before she was set on fire.
NYPD
Tisch said nearby officers saw and smelled smoke and immediately went to investigate and, with the help of an MTA employee, used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. Emergency services arrived shortly after and pronounced the woman dead on the train.
Unbeknownst to the responding officers, the person of interest remained at the scene and was seen sitting on a bench on the platform just outside the train car. He was later apprehended without incident on another train stopped in Herald Square, Tisch said.
The person of interest was wearing the same clothing and was found with a lighter in his pocket, police added.
“It’s an incredible job done by the public and the police working together. Once again, someone saw something, we discovered it through technology in many ways, and we were able to make a swift arrest for this nothing short of a heinous crime that occurred in our subway system,” said NYPD Transit Chief Joseph Gulotta.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-ADVICE (8477)or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782)). You can also submit a tip through their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDConseils. All calls remain confidential.
