Woman dies after allegedly being set on fire by man on subway as he watched her burn alive
A woman has tragically died after allegedly being set on fire by a man on the New York subway.
It was a tragic day in Manhattan on Sunday (December 22), with police commissioner Jessica Tisch saying the woman, who has yet to be identified, was on a stationary F train to Brooklyn at the time of the incident.
The train was sat at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station at about 07:30 local time when she was approached by the man, according to police.
He used a lighter to set her clothing alight, with the woman dying at the scene.
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A person of interest was taken into custody later on Sunday, but no charges have been filed as of yet.
Officials continue to speak to the man believed to be from Guatemala to help understand a motive.
"I want you to know that this apprehension was another in what has become a series of joint efforts involving different crimes between the police and the public we serve," police commissioner Tisch said.
"In today's case, we were able to get incredibly clear and detailed images of the suspect from the initial incident. Then, we asked the media to broadcast those images far and wide so we could use the viewing public as a force multiplier — and New Yorkers came through again."
The person of interest, who is said to have moved to the US in 2018, was described as five-foot-six, 150 pounds, and between the 25-30 age range.
He was wearing boots, a paint-plastered pair of pants, a grey hat and a grey hooded sweatshirt at the time of the attack.
Officials were able to pinpoint the man thanks to CCTV footage obtained from the train and three witnesses who called 911 after the shocking attack.
The suspect was detained on another train that was stopped at Herald Square, Tisch went on to say.
He was arrested with a lighter in his pocket.
NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta said: "This is amazing work done by the public and the police working together. Once again, someone saw something, we got it out through technology in numerous ways, and we were able to make a quick arrest on this nothing less than heinous crime that occurred in our subway system."
Anyone who has any information regarding this incident are asked asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Callum Jones