NYC subway attack: Suspect arrested in woman’s slaying that was set on fire

CNN
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Police in New York have arrested a suspect accused of killing a female subway passenger by setting her on fire Sunday morning, according to police.

Around 7:30 a.m., the suspect approached the victim on a train car and intentionally set her on fire before fleeing the scene, according to the NYPD.

The suspect and the victim both rode an F train to the end of the line at Stillwell Avenue in Brooklyn, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Police believe the suspect used a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, “which was completely engulfed in a matter of seconds,” Tisch said.

Police officers conducting a routine patrol at the station encountered the victim on fire inside a subway car, NYPD Det. Austin Glickman told CNN.

Officers “smelled and saw smoke,” which prompted them to investigate, which led them to the subway car, where they discovered the victim was on fire, Tisch said.

Officials extinguished the fire and EMS responded to the scene and pronounced the woman dead, according to police.

“Unbeknownst to the responding officers, the suspect had remained at the scene, sitting on a bench on the platform just outside the train car, and the body-worn cameras on the responding officers provided a very clear detailed look at the killer,” Tisch said. She noted that the suspect appeared calm when he first approached the victim.

Police initially believed the victim was asleep at the time of the attack. Although it is now unclear whether the victim was asleep, she was “mobile” when the attack began, police said Sunday. There was no interaction between the victim and the suspect during the attack, and police said they do not believe they knew each other.

Video downloaded from the subway showed the suspect lighting a blanket the victim was carrying and the fire spreading until the victim stood up engulfed in flames, John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, said on “CNN Newsroom.”

The person who set the victim on fire appeared to retreat from the train car, sit on a bench in the station and watch as the victim burned, according to Miller.

Body camera and surveillance footage were key to apprehending the suspect, officials said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. Police released body camera footage to the public, and three high school-aged New Yorkers recognized the suspect and called police, Tisch said.

Officers located and arrested the suspect on another train in Midtown Manhattan without incident. According to the authorities, he was arrested about eight hours after the incident.

“Our officers in District Two stopped that train in Herald Square and (were) able to hold the doors shut, walk the train and take this very dangerous individual into custody,” NYPD Transit Chief Joseph Gulotta said at the news conference.

The 34th Street-Herald Square station in bustling midtown Manhattan is adjacent to the Macy’s department store featured in the 1947 movie “Miracle on 34th Street.”

The suspect was found with a lighter in his pocket, the commissioner said.

Police are investigating the incident as a homicide, Glickman said. The suspect is being treated at an area in Brooklyn starting Sunday evening, authorities say.

The victim has not yet been identified, Gulotta said.

Crime Stoppers was offering up to $10,000 for information on the suspect.

No other passengers or first responders were injured in the incident, police said.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday praised the people who helped alert authorities to the suspect.

“This type of depraved behavior has no place on our subways, and we are committed to working hard to ensure that there is swift justice for all victims of violent crime,” Adams said in a post on X.

Authorities at Sunday’s news conference noted the role technology played in quickly tracking down the suspect.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced efforts to beef up subway security ahead of the holidays, deploying an additional 250 members of the National Guard to New York City and ensuring that every subway car is equipped with security cameras.

The “brutal murder” was captured by one of those cameras, according to Michael Kemper, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s chief of security.

“The most important thing was getting the identification through the body-worn cameras,” Felipe Rodriguez, a retired NYPD detective sergeant and adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said on “CNN Newsroom” Sunday.

Hochul’s office says crime is down 10% since the governor announced a subway safety plan in May and 42% since January 2021, though a series of high-profile violent incidents in the subway system in recent years have left some residents uneasy.

The city was under a “Code blue” alert Saturday night, with additional resources and shelter being deployed to help those vulnerable to freezing temperatures, especially the homeless, who sometimes seek shelter in the underground system during severe weather.

This is a developing story and will be updated.