The New York City subway experienced one of its most harrowing incidents on Sunday morning, 22nd December 2024, when a sleeping passenger was set on fire aboard an F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station.
The attack, described by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit,” left the victim dead, shocking both commuters and authorities.
At 7:30 am, as the F train idled at the station, a man later identified as 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta, a migrant from Guatemala, approached the victim—a woman seated quietly at the end of the subway car.
Without hesitation, Zapeta used a lighter to ignite her clothing. “The suspect calmly walked up to the victim … 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 explained during a press conference, as reported by the New York Post.
Patrolling officers, drawn by the sight and smell of smoke, found the woman engulfed in flames. Although they swiftly extinguished the fire, she succumbed to her injuries at the scene.
Chilling video footage captured the suspect watching the horrific scene unfold, his demeanour disturbingly detached.
Further footage from the subway car revealed the suspect igniting a blanket worn by the victim, with flames spreading rapidly until the victim, fully engulfed, rose from her seat. John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, detailed the sequence of events.
The assailant remained at the scene, calmly sitting on a bench and watching as the victim burned. Body-worn cameras provided detailed footage of the suspect, who had no prior interaction with the victim.
Surveillance footage confirmed that the suspect ignited the blanket worn by the victim, causing flames to spread quickly. “The victim was motionless at the start of the attack,” Tisch noted, adding that it was unclear whether she had been asleep.
Zapeta fled the scene but was apprehended shortly afterwards thanks to quick-thinking officers and alert citizens, according to the Post. He was located aboard another train, still wearing the same grey hoodie and paint-splattered trousers from the attack. Tisch praised the public for their assistance, stating, “I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help. They saw something, and they said something, and they did something.”
Zapeta had reportedly entered the United States in 2018 via Arizona. Authorities are continuing to investigate his immigration status. Police confirmed that he did not know the victim and had no prior criminal record in New York City.
Around 1 pm on Sunday, the woman’s charred remains were removed from the train, leaving witnesses traumatised. “It just looked like all the clothes were burnt off,” one MTA worker recounted. Another commuter, Alex Gureyev, reflected sombrely, “It’s scary … Everybody keeps saying it’s going back to the seventies. It’s a frequent occurrence—muggings, killings, fighting, shootings. Very bad.”
