A video showing one of the most horrific events in the history of the New York City subway has gone viral on social media. On Sunday morning, a man on an F train set a sleeping female passenger on fire at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue stop. The woman died as a result of the attack, which shocked both officials and commuters.
Watch here:
NEW: The man suspected of lighting a woman on fire on a New York City subway has been identified as Sebastian Zapeta.
The man apparently sat on a bench and watched his victim burn.
Police, who clearly had no clue what was going on, reportedly told the man who is believed to… pic.twitter.com/dxYibgfncJ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 22, 2024
The Guatemalan immigrant, who was arrested for the alleged crime, was captured calmly watching the victim charred to death, shocking other passengers on the train. Suspect Sebastian Zapeta, 33, came to the US in 2018.
NYPD Commissioner Holds Press Conference
During the press conference, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the incident “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit.”
“As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim, who was in a seated position at the end of a subway car … and used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” Tisch said.
According to the commissioner, patrolling police officers detected the smoke and followed it to the woman wrapped in flames. She died on the spot, despite the fact that the officers were able to put out the fire.
Suspect Calmly Watched Woman Burn to Death
In the terrifying video, the culprit can be seen quietly watching the woman burn to death inside the open subway car door. As smoke billowed from the subway car, officers yelled to ask the crowd, “Did anybody see anything? Did anybody see anything?”
The suspect was spotted sitting on a nearby bench during the commotion while police officers clustered together. One of them approached the hooded victim and said, “Do me a favor? Walk down there. I need this space cleared up.”
The man stood up from the bench and evaded the police.
Speaking about it, Tisch stated, “Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car.”
“The body-worn cameras on the responding officers produced a very clear, detailed look at the killer,” the NYPD Commissioner added.
Netizens React to the Video
Meanwhile, the video garnered over 1.2 million views on X, drawing the attention of netizens who expressed rage as well as prayed for the soul of the victim.
“Evil,” one user wrote, referring to the suspect.
“Immigration status?” another asked.
“Why is somebody just watching and someone is just videoing? Seriously, nobody tries to help? What?” a third user expressed concern, while a fourth one said, “These people need to be in jail.”
