An illegal immigrant was arrested after allegedly setting a woman on fire and burning her alive on a subway train on Sunday in Brooklyn, New York.
According to Fox News, while the New York Police Department (NYPD) has not yet released the identity of the suspect, sources told Fox News that the suspect was 33-year-old Sebastin Zapeta. Fox News reported that a high-level NYPD source said the illegal immigrant was originally from Guatemala and illegally entered the United States in 2018.
According to reporter Nick Sortor, the illegal immigrant was deported under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, but “when he re-entered the country illegally under Biden, he was RELEASED into the interior.”
Pictures of the suspect were shared Monday on X, formerly Twitter, by Sortor.
During a press conference on Sunday, the NYPD confirmed that the subway incident took place at roughly 7:30 a.m. at the Stillwell Avenue Subway station, which is located in Coney Island, according to Fox News.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, “As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim,” who was in a seated position. Tisch added, “The suspect used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds.”
READ MORE: Video/Pics: Illegal immigrant on terror watchlist arrested after release into US
According to Fox News, police officers on patrol at the subway station investigated the incident after smelling and seeing smoke coming from the subway train. Tisch said that as the police officers responded to the incident, they found a victim standing on the train completely surrounded in flames. While the flames were eventually extinguished, the victim was declared dead.
Tisch told reporters that the suspect remained at the scene of the crime and was seated on a platform outside the subway train car. According to The New York Post, the suspect was later arrested on another subway train after police officials received a tip from three high school students.
A Metropolitan Transportation Authority worker told The New York Post that the victim’s clothes appeared to be completely “burnt off” in Sunday’s incident.
“I was just walking by. The police was there already,” the worker said. “I didn’t see her in flames but that’s what I heard. It was out. They shut the lights off [in the car] so nobody could see.”
