Suspect Sought For NYC Arson Spree, Set Fire Next To Subway Rider

NEW YORK CITY — Police are searching for a man who allegedly set multiple fires last week inside two subway stations across the city, as well as setting fire to a police vehicle.

The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect on Wednesday.

The suspect is accused of setting a paper cup on fire and tossing it into a garbage can inside the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station on Jan. 10 around 2:55 a.m., police said.

Forty minutes earlier, the suspect set a NYPD emergency vehicle and another car on fire.

After the unidentified man left the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station, he then set fire to a pile of garbage next to a sleeping passenger aboard a northbound J train at the Woodhaven Avenue station in Queens around 3:40 a.m.

The suspect fled the scene on foot. There were no injuries reported in both incidents.

The incidents are being investigated by the NYPD's Arson and Explosion Unit.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.