A person accused of setting a lady on hearth inside a New York Metropolis subway prepare after which watching her die after she was engulfed in flames is awaiting arraignment on Tuesday.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was arrested on homicide and arson prices within the girl’s dying Monday, however was but to seem in entrance of a decide as of Tuesday morning.
Federal immigration officers stated Zapeta is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally after he was beforehand deported in 2018.
The apparently random assault occurred Sunday morning on a stationary F prepare on the Coney Island station in Brooklyn. Police stated Tuesday that identification of the sufferer was nonetheless “pending at this time.”
Authorities say Zapeta approached the lady, who was sitting immobile within the prepare automobile and will have been sleeping, and used a lighter to set her clothes on hearth.
The girl shortly grew to become engulfed in flames, whereas the suspect then sat at a bench on the subway platform and watched, in line with police.
Video posted to social media appeared to indicate the lady standing contained in the prepare ablaze as some folks look on from the platform, and at the least one officer walks by. NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta stated Sunday that a number of officers had responded to the fireplace and one stayed to maintain the crime scene “the way in which it’s presupposed to be” whereas the others went to get hearth extinguishers and transit employees.
They have been finally in a position to douse the fireplace, however “unfortunately, it was too late,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch stated — the lady was pronounced lifeless on the scene.
Zapeta was taken into custody Sunday afternoon whereas using a prepare on the identical subway line after police obtained a tip from some youngsters who acknowledged him from photographs circulated by the police.
It was unclear if Zapeta has an legal professional. A Brooklyn deal with for Zapeta launched by police matches a shelter that gives housing and substance abuse help. The shelter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
In an announcement, Brooklyn District Legal professional Eric Gonzalez known as the assault a “gruesome and senseless act of violence against a vulnerable woman” that might be “met with the most serious consequences.”
The crime — and the graphic video of it that ricocheted throughout social media — deepened a rising sense of unease amongst some New Yorkers concerning the security of the subway system in a metropolis the place many residents take the subway a number of instances every day.
General, in line with authorities, crime is down within the transit system this yr when in comparison with final yr — main felonies declined 6% between January and November of this yr and in 2023, knowledge compiled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority present. However murders are up, with 9 killings this yr by way of November in comparison with 5 in the identical interval final yr.
Earlier this month, a Manhattan jury acquitted Daniel Penny within the dying of an agitated subway rider that the previous Marine positioned in a chokehold final yr. The case grew to become a flashpoint in ongoing debates over security, homelessness and psychological sickness on the system.
Policing the subway can also be tough, given the huge community of trains consistently transferring between the system’s 472 stations, with every cease containing a number of entry factors and, in lots of stations, a number of flooring and platforms. On Sunday, police on the station the place the lady burned to dying have been patrolling a special space and responded after seeing and smelling smoke, authorities stated.
