New York City police took a man into custody who they believe is connected to the early morning death of a woman who was intentionally lit on fire on a stationary subway train.
The incident took place on Sunday morning aboard an F train at the end of the line at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn.
Police commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Sunday evening press conference that surveillance footage indicated the victim and her assailant were both riding the train early that morning.
As the train pulled into the station, the assailant walked up to the woman, who may have been sleeping and used what authorities believe is a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing “which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” Tisch said.
Officers on a routine patrol at the station smelled smoke and noticed commotion on the platform, and soon after discovered the unidentified woman standing in the subway car.
After the fire was extinguished, emergency medical personnel declared the woman dead at the scene.
Tisch said detailed images of the assailant had facilitated the apprehension of a person of interest. Transit police apprehended the suspect after receiving a report from three high school students who had recognized the man.
Cellphone video published on social media by a horrified onlooker showed a man sitting on a bench on the platform a few steps away from the burning woman, dressed in a gray hoodie that resembled that worn by the suspect arrested later on Sunday.
“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 said.
Police did not identify the person in custody. The victim had not been identified yet, authorities said. Police do not believe the two knew one another.
The subway car was sitting idle at the end of the line at the time of the incidents. Often, the doors are left open so the train cars can be cleaned or during a temporary pause in service.
The New York governor, Kathy Hochul, this year has sent New York national guard members to the city’s subway system to help police conduct random searches of riders’ bags for weapons following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains. Hochul recently deployed additional members to help patrol during the holiday season.
As of November, there had been nine homicides reported on the subway in 2024, compared to five in the same period in 2023, according to police data.
This December, a jury acquitted Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless former Michael Jackson impersonator, on the city’s subway. Neely had been shouting angrily at passengers on a subway train when Penny grabbed him from behind and restrained him in a chokehold for several minutes.