Woman died after being burned on the subway

A man has been arrested in New York in connection with the death of a woman who was burned on a subway train in Brooklyn.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described Sunday’s incident as “one of the most depraved crimes one person can commit against another”.

She said the woman was on a fixed F train bound for Brooklyn when she was approached by a man who used a lighter to burn her clothes.

The victim died at the scene, she said, adding that the suspect was arrested after being alerted by a group of high school students as he rode the subway later on Sunday.

Police said the woman, who has not been named, was sitting in a subway car at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn at about 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when a man approached her. Miss.

Police said there was no interaction before the attack, adding that they did not believe the two knew each other.

The man got off the train when police patrols in the station rushed to put out the fire.

“Officers were patrolling the upper level of that station, smelled and saw smoke, so they went to investigate,” Ms. Tisch said.

“What they saw was a person standing inside a train car engulfed in flames.”

Police are still working to identify the victim and the motive for the attack.

“Unbeknownst to the responding officers, the suspect remained at the scene and sat on a bench on the platform just outside the train carriage,” Ms Tisch added.

She explained that responding officers were able to get a “very clear, detailed” view of the man and that the images were disseminated by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Later, three New York high school students called 911 to report that they recognized the suspect on another train, Ms. Tisch told reporters.

The man was later located after officers boarded the train and walked through the subway cars.

He was arrested at Herald Square station – located near the Empire State Building in Manhattan.

The man was found with a lighter in his pocket, the police commissioner said.

“I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help,” Ms. Tisch added.

“They saw something, they said something and they did something.”

The man, who was not publicly identified, immigrated from Guatemala to the United States in 2018, said Joseph Gulotta of the NYPD.

Gulotta explained that detectives are still trying to verify whether the victim was asleep when the fire was set.

“She was definitely there, she was motionless,” Mr. Gulotta added.

“So to say whether she was asleep or not, we are not 100% sure, but it seemed like she was motionless at that time.

“There was no interaction between the two. And when it happened, there was no interaction between them.”