A man has been taken into custody by police after they claim he killed a lady on a New York City tube train yesterday morning by setting her on fire while she seemed to be asleep, reports RTE.
According to the New York Police Department, the unidentified woman was sitting quietly on a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn at around 7.30 am (12.30 pm Irish time) when an unidentified man approached her and burned her clothing with a lighter.
According to the police, the two individuals did not interact before to the incident, and they did not think they were acquainted, reports RTE.
As police officers on duty in the station raced to the fire, the man exited the vehicle.
“What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference, reports RTE.
A man wearing a grey sweatshirt similar to the one worn by the suspect who was caught later that day was seen sitting on a seat on the station a short distance from the burning lady in video that an observer posted on social media.
When asked if the man on the bench was the assailant, police responded that when they hurried to the woman’s rescue, they had no cause to suspect him, reports RTE.
Emergency personnel declared the woman dead at the scene after police used fire extinguishers to put out the flames.
Later that day, a suspect who has not been named was taken into custody by police while riding the tube.
They stated that they were still looking into who the victim was, reports RTE.
Violent crime is comparatively uncommon in the metropolis, where 4 million journeys are made on the tube every workday.
According to police records, as of November, there have been nine recorded tube murders in 2024, compared to five during the same time period in 2023, reports RTE.
A jury cleared Daniel Penny earlier this month of criminally negligent murder in connection with the death of homeless former Michael Jackson impersonator Jordan Neely on the city’s tube.
Penny grabbed Neely from behind and held him in a chokehold for several minutes while he was yelling at other people on a tube train, reports RTE.
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