A woman was set on fire and burned to death in a subway car in an unprecedented public attack that went viral on social media. Brooklyn, New Yorkon sunday. Amid growing calls to abolish New York City's sanctuary policy enacted under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, the suspect arrested in connection with her brutal death was previously deported from Guatemala. They are immigrants.
Sources previously revealed that Fox News Digital's person of interest is Sebastian Zapeta, 33, who has been charged with first- and second-degree murder and first-degree arson.
Zapeta was arrested by the Border Patrol and subsequently deported by the Trump administration in June 2018. I entered the country illegally in Sonoita, Arizona. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Marie Ferguson told Fox News, adding that Zapeta later entered the country illegally.
Suspect who burned woman to death on New York subway is illegal immigrant deported
New York City police officers escort a suspect wanted for murder on the F train in Coney Island from a Lower Manhattan subdivision on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. (Courtesy of GN Miller/New York Post)
“It's past time to end New York's sanctuary city policy.” The New York Post Editorial Board wrote: Zapeta added: “We're re-entering.” He left the country and headed to New York at some point thereafter. If local policies guarantee housing, food, and other taxpayer assistance to immigrants; It would also prohibit police from working with ICE to deport people, even those who have committed new crimes. ”
“In other words, he went to a place where he could do everything he wanted without worrying too much about the law and without fear of consequences,” the board continued.
Surveillance camera footage of Sunday's attack shows the suspect approaching the woman, who was seated, motionless and possibly asleep, while aboard a stopped F train at the Coney Island-Stilwell Avenue subway station, then setting her on fire. was seen being released.
NYPD arrests immigrant who set woman on fire on subway and watched her burn to death
Police are investigating at Brooklyn's Coney Island-Stilwell Avenue station after a woman was set on fire while inside a subway car in New York, USA, on December 22, 2024. Police believe the woman was asleep on the train when the man assaulted her. He approached her and set fire to her. She was pronounced dead at the scene. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“As the train entered the station, the suspect calmly approached the victim,” Police Chief Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Sunday night, adding that the female victim was in a seated position. “The suspect used what appeared to be a lighter to ignite the victim's clothing, which completely engulfed him within seconds.”
The suspect then remained at the scene, sitting on a bench just outside the vehicle, while police and traffic personnel extinguished the fire. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Three New York high school students called 911 and the suspect was arrested while riding the same subway train just hours after the attack. He was found with a lighter in his pocket, Tisch said.
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Police investigate the scene where a man set a woman on fire while she was sleeping on an MTA subway train at the Coney Island-Stilwell Avenue subway station in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday, December. are. 22nd, 2024. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a Fox News debate last week that “people are tired of the revolving door of people constantly committing violent crimes and returning to the streets… It's not a shelter.” About the city's conservation policy. “Violent individuals should not remain in our country.”
Adams is the first major city mayor to meet with incoming border czar Tom Homan against the wishes of his own city leaders, saying he will work with the Trump administration to remove immigrant criminals from the city.
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Adams said the number of migrant arrivals in New York City had been declining for 22 weeks this month and prior to Sunday's attack, and many of the migrant shelters used as housing had closed, but the city had 220,000 migrants. He said more than 5,000 migrants had arrived. Since 2022, the surge has coincided with a surge at the southern border.
FOX News' Greg Wenner contributed to this report.
