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By Khaleda Rahman and Dan Gooding
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What's New
A Guatemalan national was on Monday charged in connection with a horrific attack on the New York City Subway in which a woman burned alive.
Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, was charged with first-degree murder and arson, following the incident on an F train at Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station at 7.30.a.m. on Sunday.
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials told Newsweek Monday that Zapeta-Calil entered the U.S. illegally in 2018, and was deported but reentered the country at an unknown time and location.
NYPD announced on Sunday that officers had arrested a suspect, hours after his photo was quickly shared online.
Why It Matters
Reports that the suspect was an illegal immigrant spread quickly on social media, prompting outcry over current immigration policies and some expressing support for President-elect Donald Trump's mass deportation policies.
New York City has been one of the focal points for new migrant arrivals since spring 2022 and its sanctuary policies often prevent local law enforcement from working with ICE on cases.
The brazen broad-daylight attack also comes amid an uptick in subway murders in New York after years of plummeting levels of violent crime. Sunday's homicide was the second killing on the subway over the weekend, and the twelfth of 2024. In 2017, there were zero.
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What to Know
The victim was approached as she was reportedly sleeping on an F train in Brooklyn early on Sunday morning. Surveillance footage from the train's relatively new cameras showed a man walking up to her before setting her clothes on fire.
Police said the woman was completely covered in flames within moments, while the man watched from a bench on the platform at the station. Officers patrolling nearby smelled smoke and went to investigate, finding the woman engulfed in flames. She died at the scene.
The cameras on the train and police body-worn cameras picked up a clear image of the suspect, who had stood up and walked away once officers urged passengers to clear the area.
Later Sunday, high school students spotted the suspect on an F train headed from Brooklyn to Manhattan and called the police. Officers were alerted at the 34 St-Herald Square station, and they boarded the train to detain the suspect, who was wearing the same clothes as when he allegedly carried out the attack, along with a lighter.
ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson told Newsweek via email that Zapeta was "an unlawfully present Guatemalan citizen", who had entered the U.S. illegally in Sonoita, Arizona, on June 1, 2018. He was served with an order of expedited removal and he was sent back to Guatemala on June 7 that year.
He then re-entered the U.S. at an unknown time and location, Ferguson said.
The Context
The incident is the latest in series of high-profile crimes on New York subway trains that have shocked the city.
In February, a person was killed and five others were injured in a shooting on a subway train in the Bronx. In another incident that month, a train conductor was slashed in the neck. Just weeks later, a man was shot on a busy train in Brooklyn.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul in March deployed National Guard members in a bid to bolster safety on the city's subway system and help police conduct random searches of bags for weapons. Earlier in December, Hochul deployed additional members to help patrol during the holiday season.
Hochul also supported funding to install video cameras on every train car in the New York subway system. Michael Kemper, chief security officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, credited the cameras with helping to quickly track down the suspect.
New York Police Department has reported declines in subway crime this year. Earlier this month, the department said there was a 15.8 percent reduction in total crime on the nation's largest subway system in November. In the year to date, there was a 6.3 percent decline in the total number of crime on the subway system, with 135 fewer reports of crime compared to last year, police said.
What People Are Saying
ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson: "The New York City Police Department arrested Zapeta as part of its investigation into the murder of a woman on a subway in Coney Island, New York. Once he is charged and a holding location is released, ERO will lodge an immigration detainer with the NYPD location where he is being held."
Joseph Gulotta, chief of transit police at the NYPD, at a press conference Sunday: "That individual arrived here in, it looks like 2018, from Guatemala. Just want to put that point out and that's all we have on him right now."
Jessica Tisch, NYPD Commissioner, at the press conference: "I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help. They saw something, they said something and they did something."
Eric Adams, New York City Mayor, on X: "This type of depraved behavior has no place in our subways and we are committed to working hard to ensure there is swift justice for all victims of violent crime. My prayers are with the family of the victim in this senseless killing."
Kathy Hochul, New York Governor, on X: "Make no mistake: any crime is one too many, even with subway crime going down. We are continuing to surge personnel and resources to make our subways safer."
**Democratic New York Representative Ritchie Torres on X: "**In New York, dangerous people are allowed to freely roam the subway. Yet the political establishment insists on gaslighting the public with deceptive headlines: "crime is down" and "the subways are safe.""
What's Next
Around the time news of the attack was breaking, Governor Hochul was posting on social media about how she was "taking action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day."
Her words were coming under scrutiny by Torres and others Monday as tone deaf.
Zapeta is being held without bail. The NYPD is yet to identify the victim.
Update 12/24/24, 5:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated to reflect that Sebastian Zapeta-Calil has been charged.
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