An elderly man is in critical condition after a fire broke out inside Penn Station in Manhattan on Friday, authorities said.
Emergency crews were dispatched to the subway station after MTA police received a report of a man starting a fire around 8 p.m. ET.
“MTA officers responded to the scene and found a 67-year-old man with burns to both legs and upper body,” a New York City Police Department spokesperson said.
The man was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center for treatment, where he remains in critical condition.
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A New York state trooper stands guard outside a hallway at Penn Station that was cordoned off with warning tape after a homeless man started a fire inside Penn Station on Dec. 27, 2024. (Peter Garber)
No arrests have been made. NYPD and MTA police are conducting a joint investigation.
The incident comes just days after an undocumented immigrant was arrested in connection with the brutal death of a woman who was set on fire and burned alive in a Brooklyn subway.
MTA police walk through Penn Station after a homeless man started a fire at Penn Station on Dec. 27, 2024. (Peter Garber)
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was charged with first-degree arson as well as first- and second-degree murder.
Surveillance video shows the suspect calmly approach the woman, who was seated, motionless, and possibly sleeping, while aboard a stopped F train at the Coney Island-Stilwell Avenue subway station, then set her on fire. I could see it being released.
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Caution tape blocked off a hallway after a homeless man caught fire at Penn Station on Dec. 27, 2024. (Peter Garber)
The victim has not been identified.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said her clothes were “completely engulfed in a matter of seconds” and called the incident “one of the most despicable crimes one human being can commit against another human being.” He said that.
The suspect then sat on a nearby bench outside the vehicle and watched as police and traffic personnel extinguished the fire. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
He was arrested a few hours later while riding the same subway line. Tisch added that the person of interest was found to have a lighter in his pocket.
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A New York police officer stands guard outside a Penn Station hallway that was cordoned off with warning tape after a homeless man started a fire at Penn Station on December 27, 2024. (Peter Garber)
Zapeta was previously arrested by Border Patrol agents on June 1, 2018. I entered the country illegally in Sonoita, Arizona. A few days later, on June 7, Marie Ferguson, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Fox News that she was deported by the Trump administration.
Ferguson added that Zapeta later reentered the United States illegally on “an unknown date and location.”
She added that after details of Mr. Zapeta's indictment and where he is being held are made public, Operation Force Removal “intends to file an immigration complaint at the NYPD location where he is being held.”
Fox News' Pilar Arias, Bill Melugin, Greg Wehner, Seth Andrews and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
