Police have arrested a man accused of setting a woman on fire while she appeared to be asleep on a New York City subway early Sunday morning. The attack occurred aboard a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn around 7:30 a.m.
According to the NYPD, the suspect approached the woman, who was sitting motionless, and used a lighter to ignite her clothing. The victim, whose identity remains unknown, had no prior interaction with the attacker, and police do not believe they knew each other.
Officers on patrol in the station rushed to the scene after noticing the flames. “What they saw was a person inside the train car fully engulfed in flames,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Bystanders captured video showing a man sitting on a platform bench nearby, wearing a gray hoodie resembling the suspect’s attire. However, officers initially did not identify him as a suspect as they worked to extinguish the fire.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Later that day, police arrested a man on another subway train who matched the description of the attacker. His identity has not been released, and the motive for the attack remains under investigation.
New York City’s subway, which sees about 4 million weekday trips, has a low rate of violent crime. However, there have been nine homicides on the system in 2024, compared to five during the same period in 2023.
The incident follows the recent acquittal of Daniel Penny, who was charged with criminally negligent homicide for fatally restraining Jordan Neely, a homeless man, in a subway confrontation earlier this year.
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