A woman died early yesterday morning after being set on fire by another man. This happened in a subway at New York. They were both passengers of a train. The suspect just stood up walked up to the woman and lit her up with little or no interaction between them.
The New York City Crime Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters Sunday night this on Sunday Night.
“It was just seven o clock this morning when the victim and the person of interest were riding an F train to the end of the line at Stillway avenue . As the train got to end of the line , the person of interest calmly walked up to the victim who is in a seated position at the end of the subway. The suspect used what was has to be with a lighter to light the victim’s clothes which lit the clothes in a matter of seconds. Officers were on patrol on an upper level of that station, smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate,” Ms Tisch said.
“What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames.”
With the help of an MTA employee, fire extinguisher, the fire was put out. Unfortunately it was too late and the victim was pronounced dead in scene. Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car,” Ms Tisch added. The Police provided detailed image of the suspect.
She also said that three high-school aged newyorker called that they recognised the man. Police was mobilised and the man was spotted boarding another train. The train was stopped and suspect arrested.
“I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help,” Ms Tisch added.
“They saw something, they said something and they did something. This is another example of great technology and even greater, old fashioned police work with a huge assist from the public.”
The woman was pronounced dead on scene by the responders. According to New York Post, there was a liquor bottle found around the victim. Although there was no clear indication that the bottle had an effect in the fire.
The suspect was described as a male between 25 to 30 years old, approximately 5 foot 6 and weighed 150 pounds. He was seen in a gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, dark-colored knitted hat with a red stripe, and brown boots.
The man, who was not publicly identified, emigrated from Guatemala to the US in 2018, the NYPD’s Joseph Gulotta said.
Gulotta explained detectives are still trying to establish whether the victim was asleep when she was set on fire.
“She’s definitely there, she’s motionless,” Mr Gulotta added.
“So to say if she’s asleep or not, we’re not 100% sure, but it appears that she’s motionless at that spot.
“There is no interaction between the two. And when the incident happens, there is no interaction between them”
The victim is still unidentified by the Police.
Edited by: Oladeji Olabisi
