A weekend of violence on NYC’s subways raises fears for public safety

There have been twice as many homicides in New York’s transit system so far this year as in the same period in 2023 — although overall violence in the system is slightly lower, according to police data.

The numbers have come into focus in the wake of a particularly gruesome killing over the weekend — when authorities said a man set fire to a sleeping woman on an F train at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station and burned her to death. Police charged 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta with murder and arson in that attack.

Immigration officials said Zapeta is an immigrant from Guatemala in the United States without authorization, having entered the country after being deported in 2018. But this incident was one of several acts of violence in the metro over the weekend — including a stabbing, one shooting and two assaults on elderly riders.

Including the latest killings, 11 people have been killed on the city’s mass transit system so far this year, compared with five during the same period last year, according to police data. For some of the 4 million people who ride the subway every day, the weekend’s events have exacerbated a lingering public anxiety.

“There’s no way you can really feel safe. There’s no way,” said commuter Dashauna Jackson after getting off the C train at Spring Street on Monday. “It’s really gotten really bad over the last couple year.”

Jackson and other subway riders who spoke to Gothamist said they’ve noticed an increase in people behaving erratically, fights and general disorder on the subways in the past few years.

Their comments come amid a continuing debate about public safety on the transit system, which grew earlier this month when Daniel Penny, who was accused of causing the death of Jordan Neely when he held him in a chokehold on an F train downtown last year, was acquitted of manslaughter charges. Passengers on the train had said Neely shouted threats when Penny grabbed him.

Paul Reeping, head of research at the nonprofit Vital City, said a broad increase in incidents is not just perception.

“If people notice that, it’s because it’s partially true,” he said, adding that an increase in metro crime during the pandemic mirrored the increase in crime elsewhere in the city and has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Although homicides in transit doubled this year, they are still extremely rare, he stressed. He said two murders occurring in the subway system on the same day is “huge” because it is so uncommon.

“We think the subways might even be safer than walking on the street, just in terms of the amount of time spent and the amount of crime that happens,” he said.

Still, he said, the increase should be taken seriously.

“I think the way most people feel about the subway, just because it feels like an intimate space, is that it should be like an airplane — there shouldn’t be any murders there,” he said. “The number must be zero.”

Politicians have taken note of the public’s concern. Gov. Kathy Hochul said last week she was deploying an additional 250 National Guard troops to the subway system, in addition to 750 troopers the state sent into the subways in March after a series of high-profile subway crimes. On Sunday, she touted the installation of cameras in every subway car, a $5.5 million project.

Surveillance in the subway system — along with body camera footage and a viral bystander video — helped police quickly take a person of interest into custody in the burning woman case. But that surveillance didn’t lead as quickly to arrests in four other incidents, including the second slaying that happened on subways across the city over the weekend.

Friday morning, just after 6, an 83-year-old man riding a southbound 5 train near Manhattan’s Fulton Street station was punched several times in the face by a stranger after a verbal dispute, police said. He suffered lacerations to his face and head and was taken to Kings County Hospital Center for treatment.

Around 3 p.m. Saturday, a 21-year-old man and an 18-year-old man were shot by two unidentified people as they got off a southbound Q train at the Avenue U subway station in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, officials said. They were both taken to local hospitals in stable condition.

On Sunday at 12:30 p.m., a 37-year-old man was stabbed to death on a southbound 7 train at the 61st Street-Woodside Station in Queens. A 26-year-old man was also stabbed multiple times and taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition.

And on Sunday around 2:30 p.m., a 76-year-old woman was punched in the head by a stranger and knocked to the ground on the southbound train platform 6 at Manhattan’s 51st Street subway station, police said. She was taken to NY Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition.

In each of those cases, apart from the fatal stabbing, the police sent out clear pictures of the suspected assailants – just as they did in the case of the woman who was burned on the F train.

According to the NYPD’s CompStat database, overall, crime in the transit system is down 135 incidents, or 6%, compared to this time last year – with 2,095 incidents reported through December 15 this year.

Grand theft makes up the majority of reported crimes, with more than 1,000 incidents in both years. But aggravated assault – the kind of attack that can leave victims with permanent injuries – is the second highest category. Police data shows 548 crimes have been reported while in transit this year, compared to 557 in the same time frame last year.

Danny Pearlstein, political director of the Riders Alliance, an organization that helps commuters advocate for better transit systems, said the answer to the problem isn’t necessarily more “scare tactics” that could further increase anxiety for riders.

“We need our leaders to double down on housing solutions for housing problems and health solutions for health problems,” he said. “To the extent that we want to see a police presence on the subway, we need it to be on platforms and trains, even though we know the police can’t solve every problem in transit.”

John McCarthy, head of policy and external relations at the MTA, said the transit agency has used the three-pronged “Cops, cameras and care” approach to reduce subway crime and make riders feel safer.

He said the agency has worked with the state and the NYPD to put more uniformed officers in the system, has met its goal of installing cameras in every subway car and has established the SCOUT program, where outreach teams work together to get help to people who are homeless and struggling with mental illness.

McCarthy said the MTA has examined the context behind each homicide to see what circumstances caused the deaths and what could possibly have prevented them.

“There is still work to be done,” he said. “We remain focused on getting that number down.”