Woman dies after being set on fire in the subway

A man has been arrested in New York in connection with the death of a woman who was set on fire on a subway train in Brooklyn.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the incident on Sunday as “one of the most depraved crimes a person could possibly commit against another human being”.

She said the woman was on a stationary F train bound for Brooklyn when she was approached by a man who used a lighter to ignite her clothing.

The victim died at the scene, she said, adding that the suspect had been arrested following a tip from a group of high school students as he rode the subway later Sunday.

Police said the woman, who has not been named, was on a subway car at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn around 6 p.m. 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when a man approached her.

Officers said she was “moving” when she was set on fire, but detectives were still determining whether the victim was asleep.

There was no interaction before the attack, police said, adding that they did not believe the two people knew each other.

The man got off the train as police officers on patrol at the station rushed to the fire.

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

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

Police are still working to identify the victim and the motive for the attack.

“Unbeknownst to the responding officers, the suspect had remained at the scene and was sitting on a bench on the platform just outside the train car,” Ms Tisch added.

She explained that police were then able to get a “very clear, detailed” look at the man from the responding officers’ body-worn cameras.

The images were distributed by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Later, three high-school-age New Yorkers called 911 to report they recognized the suspect on another train, Ms. Tisch told reporters.

The man was then located after officers boarded the train and walked through the subway cars.

He was arrested at the Herald Square station – which is located near the Empire State Building in Manhattan.

He was found with a lighter in his pocket, Ms Tisch said.

“I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help,” the police commissioner added.

“They saw something, they said something, and they did something.”

The man, who was not publicly identified, emigrated from Guatemala to the United States in 2018, NYPD’s Joseph Gulotta said.

Mr. Gulotta explained that detectives are still trying to determine if the victim was asleep when the incident happened.

“She’s definitely there, she’s motionless,” Mr Gulotta added.

“So to say whether she’s sleeping or not, we’re not 100% sure, but it looks like she’s motionless in that spot.

“There is no interaction between the two. And when the incident happens, there is no interaction between them.”