Man Who Lit Person On Fire In Subway Car Arrested: Police

NEW YORK — A man was taken into custody after he lit a person on fire Sunday morning in a fatal attack on an F train in Brooklyn, according to police.

The incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. as the train pulled into the Stillwell Avenue station, police said. The man walked up to the female victim, who was motionless and may have been asleep, and used a lighter to set her clothes on fire, according to police.

Officers on the station’s upper level smelled smoke and found the victim standing inside the subway car, fully engulfed in flames, police said. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch at a press conference streamed Sunday on X described the incident as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.”

The man stayed at the scene after lighting the fire, sitting on a nearby bench and in doing so allowing police body cameras to capture his image, which was shared widely, according to authorities, who said three teens called 911 to say they had seen the man at the subway station at Jay and York streets. Officers responded, saw the man on a moving train, stopped the train and arrested the man, who had a lighter in his pocket, police said.

The events of the killing were captured on a train camera, according to MTA Chief Security Officer Michael Kemper, who spoke at the press conference.

There was no interaction between the victim and the suspect before the attack, Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta said at the press conference. Police provided few details about the assailant, but Gulotta did say the man arrived in the U.S. in 2018 from Guatemala.