Coney Island Subway Station Scene of Horrific Fatal Attack

United States: Police captured a man they accused of dousing a woman with gasoline before lighting her on fire while she seemed to still be unconscious on a train in New York City Sunday morning.

Unprovoked Attack on Stationary Subway Train

The woman, who has not been identified, sat motionlessly aboard a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn at about 7:30 a.m. (1230 GMT). An unidentified male with a lighter lit the female’s clothes on fire in New York, according to the police. Authorities explained that there was no contact before the attack and, most likely, the two subjects were strangers to one another, as reported by Reuters.

Man arrested after setting woman on fire on New York subway train

The incident occurred around 7.30 am (1230GMT) on an F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn.#subway #train #Brooklyn #fire #USA pic.twitter.com/DK6uq7TX2Y

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The man alighted from the car as a policeman on patrol duties in the station moved to the fire.

Police Respond to the Scene

A shocking attack on a subway train in Brooklyn has left a woman dead, prompting swift police action and a public outcry. The incident occurred on Sunday morning at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station

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“What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference.

Suspect Arrested Hours Later

A cellphone video posted on a social networking site shared by a horrified onlooker showed a man sitting on a bench at the platform several steps apart from the burning woman; the man was clad in a gray hooded t-shirt similar to that worn by the suspect nabbed later on Sunday.

When asked if the man sitting on the bench observing the attack was the aggressor, the police stated that the officers who came to the lady’s rescue had no reason to believe that the man in question was the attacker.

🚨 Tragic news from NYC: A suspect has been arrested after a woman was fatally set on fire on the F train at Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station. Our thoughts are with the victim's family. Let's work together to ensure safety in our communities. 🕊️ #NYC #SubwaySafety #… pic.twitter.com/c2M5BrGCey

— TOP X News (@TOPXNews) December 23, 2024

The officers managed to devise the fire using extinguishers, and the woman was found lifeless by the officers and other emergency persons who arrived at the scene, according to the police.

Later on Sunday, police arrested a suspect who had not been named yet while he was on the subway.

Police noted that they were still working on the identification of the woman as well as the motive for the stabbing.

Subway Safety in Question

Some 4 million people use the subway to get around the city weekly, but violent crime is relatively less in subways. Police records showed nine homicides that occurred in the subway in 2024 up to November, compared to five in 2023 up to the same period, as reported by Reuters.

🚨US shocker: A woman was set on fire on a New York subway

In a chilling incident, a woman was set on fire on a stationary subway train in United States’ New York on Sunday (December 22) morning.

A 33-year-old migrant man from Guatemala has been arrested in connection with the… pic.twitter.com/jKlJsQd3H3

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The same earlier this month, a jury did not charge Daniel Penny with criminally negligent homicide involving Jordan Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator, of the city’s subway. It is reported that Neely was warning passengers on a subway train and screaming at them when Penny attacked him by holding his neck tightly for several minutes.