A suspect has been arrested for allegedly setting a sleeping woman on fire onboard the New York City subway.
The unidentified man, who was said to have been caught on camera at a station in Coney Island sitting on a bench just outside an F train and watching as the woman was engulfed in flames, is accused of lighting the woman on fire at around 7.29am, according to Fox News.
Officers arrived at the scene after receiving a call of a woman needing assistance, but the woman was already on fire, authorities said in a statement.
Police also said they put out the fire out before the woman died from her injuries, at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station.
That was around 7:30am, minutes after the still-at-large man walked by the unnamed woman and threw a match. The man, said to have entered the train while it was pulled in, fled the station.
Officers were later seen using a tarp to cover up one of the train’s windows – seemingly to block a view of the grisly scene.
‘On Sunday… at approximately 0729 hours, an unidentified female victim was sleeping aboard a stationary “F” train at the Stillwell Avenue Subway station when an unknown male individual approached and lit the victim on fire,’ it read.
They have since discerned an unknown man caught on camera at the station lit her on fire at 7:29 am, spurring a homicide investigation
A sleeping woman was killed after her body was set aflame on the New York City subway early Sunday morning, police have revealed
‘The individual then left the subway car. The victim was pronounced deceased by EMS at the scene.’
Officers then asked for help identifying the suspect, whom they descried as a 5’6” tall, 150-pound male who was last seen wearing ‘a gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, a dark colored knit hat with a red band, and brown boots.’
Police added that the woman was found with a litany of liquor bottles – though law enforcement sources who spoke to The New York Post said investigators remain stumped as to whether that played a part in the fire.
No other information was readily available about the female victim, and the suspect’s motive – if any – still remains unclear.
No information was readily available about the female victim, and the suspect’s motive – if any – remains unclear. He is seen here again in the third of three photos being circulated since the incident
The woman, cops said, did not die immediately – only succumbing to her injuries after cops found her burning to death at the scene
Officers at the scene after receiving a call of a woman needing assistance were seen using a tarp to cover up one of the train’s windows – seemingly to block a view of the grisly scene
Officers are asking for help in locating the suspect, describing him as a 5’6” tall, 150-lb male aged 20 to 35
One of the photos released by the NYPD appear to have been taken by straphanger, showing the suspect sitting on a bench at an unspecified station.
The others show him in the same clothes seemingly in the subway car in question, where police extinguished the fire and EMS workers declared the woman dead at the scene.
The 5 and 6 platform, in addition to that of the F train, were roped off with police tape as a result.
Service for the F train – the same line where Long Island’s Daniel Perry choked an aggressive homeless man to death – was shut down in both directions.
This is a developing story; please check for updates.
