The man accused of burning a sleeping subway passenger to death is an illegal immigrant who was previously deported from the United States, federal immigration authorities have confirmed.
New York City police detained an illegal Guatemalan immigrant on suspicion of burning a woman alive at a New York City subway station Sunday morning. Investigators believe the suspect approached the sleeping passenger, who has not been identified so far, and set her clothes on fire with a lighter, then remained at the scene and watched as the victim was injured. (Related: Exclusive: Trump's next border czar, Tom Homan, sees big problems with Biden's latest deportation numbers)
A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed the immigrant suspect is Sebastian Zapeta Khalil, a 33-year-old alien who is in the United States illegally.
“Sebastian Zapeta Khalil, 33, is an illegal Guatemalan citizen who entered the United States without authorization from an immigration official,” ICE spokesman Jeff Carter told the Daily Caller News Foundation. said in a statement provided. “U.S. Border Patrol agents in Sonoita, Arizona encountered Zapeta on June 1, 2018, issued an expedited removal order, and removed Zapeta from the United States to Guatemala in a forced removal operation on June 7, 2018.”
LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 08: Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers crowd a parking lot before raiding an illegal immigrant with a criminal record on Thursday, September 8, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Irrfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Carter continued, “Zapeta illegally reentered the United States at an unknown date and location.
ICE confirmed that the NYPD arrested Zapeta as part of the investigation into the murder of a woman on the Coney Island subway in New York City. Once the Guatemalan national is charged and the detention center is released, authorities plan to apply to the NYPD for immigration detainer status.
The attack appeared to be a random act of violence, according to a detailed description given by police investigators.
“As the train entered the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim, who was sitting on the edge of the subway car,” New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Sunday. press conference “The suspect used what appeared to be a lighter to ignite the victim's clothing and became fully engulfed within seconds.”
He said police officers on patrol in the upper floors of the station smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate. “It's one of the heinous crimes.” When they arrived at the scene, they found the victim standing inside a vehicle engulfed in flames and tried to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible.
Officer body camera footage later revealed that the suspect, Zapeta, remained at the scene to watch the incident unfold. A witness later identified the man to police, and he was eventually arrested by the NYPD, who found him with a lighter in his pocket.
The killing marks the latest high-profile crime in New York City attributed to illegal immigrants. A wave of illegal immigration in New York City has made local lawmakers, including Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, increasingly eager to repeal the city's sanctuary law and help the incoming Trump administration's mass deportation efforts.
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