What to know about the death of a woman who was set on fire in a New York City subway train

NEW YORK (AP) — The person accused of lighting a lady on fireplace on a New York Metropolis subway and fanning the flames as she burned to loss of life made his first look in courtroom this week, whereas authorities have been but to publicly determine the sufferer.

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was arraigned on homicide and arson expenses on Tuesday afternoon in a Brooklyn courtroom, the place he was remanded again to custody. He didn’t enter a plea and his lawyer didn’t communicate to reporters assembled contained in the courthouse. His subsequent courtroom date is scheduled for Friday.

Authorities allege Zapeta, who federal immigration officers say is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally, calmly approached the lady aboard a stationary F practice on the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn on Sunday morning and set her clothes ablaze.

New York Metropolis Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Sunday described the case as “one of the vital wicked crimes one particular person may probably commit in opposition to one other human being.”

Right here’s the most recent:

What do we all know concerning the suspect?

Zapeta was taken into custody on Sunday, hours after police disseminated photographs of a suspect within the lady’s loss of life.

Police mentioned three excessive schoolers known as 911 after recognizing the particular person within the picture, and officers discovered him on one other subway practice in the identical grey hoodie, wool hat, paint-splattered pants and tan boots.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Jeff Carter mentioned Zapeta is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally after he had been beforehand deported to Guatemala in 2018. It’s unclear when and the place he reentered the U.S., Carter mentioned.

Zapeta was arraigned in Brooklyn prison courtroom on Tuesday. He appeared earlier than a choose in a white jumpsuit and didn’t communicate.

Assistant District Legal professional Ari Rottenberg, throughout Tuesday’s courtroom listening to, alleged Zapeta lit the lady’s clothes on fireplace and fanned the flames utilizing a shirt.

Rottenberg added that beneath interrogation Zapeta claimed he didn’t know what occurred, noting that he consumes alcohol. However he alleged that Zapeta recognized himself to interrogators in photographs of the assault.

A Brooklyn handle for Zapeta launched by police matches a service middle for Samaritan Daytop Village, which offers housing and substance abuse assist. The group didn’t reply to a request for remark.

What do we all know concerning the sufferer?

The sufferer had not been publicly recognized as of Thursday, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed. Police have described her solely as a lady.

Tisch mentioned at a press convention on Sunday that the sufferer was “in a seated place” on the finish of the practice automobile when she was set on fireplace. Joseph Gulotta, the division’s chief of transit, added that police don’t imagine the suspect and the sufferer knew one another and that they didn’t work together earlier than or in the course of the incident.

What sort of police presence is there on the subway?

Police patrol the New York Metropolis subways, and there’s a huge community of cameras in stations and all subway automobiles.

However the sheer dimension of the subway system — 472 stations with a number of entry factors and hundreds of thousands of riders every day — makes policing it logistically troublesome.

On Sunday, officers have been on the station however have been patrolling a special platform. They responded after seeing and smelling smoke coming from the fireplace.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this yr directed members of the state’s Nationwide Guard to help with random bag checks at sure stations.

Is crime up on the subways?

Violent incidents on the subway and in stations usually put individuals on edge, partly as a result of many New Yorkers take the practice a number of instances a day and infrequently have their very own experiences with uncomfortable interactions within the system.

Broadly, crime is down within the metropolis transit system this yr in comparison with the identical interval in 2023. Knowledge compiled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reveals a 6% decline in what the company calls main felonies between January and November of this yr and 2023.

On the identical time, murders within the transit system are up, with 9 killings this yr by November in comparison with 5 in the identical time-frame final yr.

Excessive-profile incidents on the practice usually entice nationwide consideration and additional unnerve passengers. Daniel Penny, a navy veteran who positioned an agitated subway rider in a chokehold, was acquitted of murder this month.

“When you have got these incidents, it overshadows the success and it performs on the psyche of New Yorkers,” mentioned New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams in a Monday interview on PIX 11, noting that many high-profile incidents within the transit system contain individuals with psychological well being points.