December 22, 2024 BROOKLYN, New York – Just days before Christmas, a woman sleeping inside a subway car at a Coney Island station was killed after she was allegedly set on fire by a male passenger, cops said.
According to police, the victim was asleep in a seated position across from the suspect towards the end of a subway car. It’s believed that as the train was approaching the last stop, the accused male stood up and used a lighter to ignite the victims clothing.
Almost instantly the woman became fully engulfed in flames before standing up inside the subway car. The fire was extinguished by an MTA worker however the woman did not survive and EMS pronounced her deceased on the F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn.
Unknown to responding officers, the suspect remained at the scene of the heinous crime and watched the victim burn to death from a bench in front of open subway car doors with a direct view of the woman burning. The suspect was seen calmly leaving the area on cell phone footage obtained and shared by the NYPD
According to police officials, a group of teens noticed the suspect at a nearby Brooklyn subway station and alerted police to his presence after seeing photos of the suspect broadcasted by multiple news outlets.
Transit District 2 officers radioed ahead to have the train stopped for a murder suspect search as the person of interest boarded a train that already left the station. At the next station, officers boarded the stopped train, going from car to car before locating and apprehending the suspect without further incident.
The man accused of the violent incident was found with a lighter in his pocket, and the investigation into the fatal fire is ongoing, cops said.
