The police took a man into custody on Sunday in connection with the death of a woman who was set on fire on a subway earlier in the day in Brooklyn, the police said.
Officers on patrol responded just before 7:30 a.m. to a report of a woman on fire on a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station. The officers and a Metropolitan Transportation Authority worker used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire but the woman, who was not identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, the police said.
The man the police took into custody calmly approached the woman and used a lighter to set her clothes on fire, Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, said at a news conference on Sunday evening.
Ms. Tisch said the police apprehended someone they believe “carried out one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being, and it took the life of an innocent New Yorker.”
The man who was taken into custody was found with a lighter, she said. He was not publicly identified.
He was caught after three high school-age students called to report the man they believed appeared in photos shared by the police and disseminated by the news media on Sunday.
The police said that they were not able to identify the victim on Sunday evening. Additional details, such as what led up to the attack, were not immediately known. The medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death.
White police tape-lined the platform closest to the train as police officers and workers in hazardous material-like suits surveyed the damaged subway car. Yellow tape also cordoned off each entrance to the platform.
The attack took place as subway safety has become a top concern for riders and workers.
Last month, a morning shooting on the Upper West Side interrupted transit service after a gunman fled into a nearby subway station. Commuters had to take shelter on subway car floors, and trains were delayed citywide as the police searched for the man, who was later arrested.
In February, transit workers stopped performing their duties during the morning commute after an overnight slashing attack injured a conductor on an A train.
The following week, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York announced that she would deploy 1,000 members of the State Police and National Guard to the transit system after a series of violent crimes on the subway.
Last year, overall crime in the transit system dropped nearly 3 percent compared with 2022 as the number of daily riders rose by 14 percent.
According to a Dec. 18 news release from the governor’s office, subway crime was down 42 percent since 2021 while ridership has increased 148 percent.
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