Police have arrested a man accused of setting a woman on fire aboard a stationary subway train in Brooklyn on Sunday morning, resulting in her death.
The victim, whose identity remains unknown, was sitting motionlessly on an F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station around 7:30 a.m. when a man reportedly approached her and used a lighter to ignite her clothing. According to the New York Police Department, the attacker and victim appeared to have no prior connection, and no interaction occurred before the incident.
According to a Reuters report, patrolling officers arrived at the scene to find the woman fully engulfed in flames. They extinguished the fire, but she was pronounced dead on-site by emergency responders.
Cellphone footage from the scene, shared on social media, captured a man in a gray hoodie sitting on a nearby bench. While his clothing matched the description of the suspect later apprehended, police initially did not identify him as a suspect during their response.
The arrested man, whose identity has not been released, was taken into custody later that day while riding the subway. Authorities continue to investigate the motive for the attack and are working to confirm the victim’s identity.
Violent crimes on New York City’s subway system are relatively uncommon, but the number of reported homicides has increased slightly this year. As of November, nine homicides have been reported in 2024 compared to five during the same period in 2023.
