{"id":120101,"date":"2024-12-25T05:21:34","date_gmt":"2024-12-25T05:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/new-york-subway-death-accused-fanned-flames-with-shirt-prosecutors-say-bbc-com\/"},"modified":"2024-12-25T05:21:34","modified_gmt":"2024-12-25T05:21:34","slug":"new-york-subway-death-accused-fanned-flames-with-shirt-prosecutors-say-bbc-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/new-york-subway-death-accused-fanned-flames-with-shirt-prosecutors-say-bbc-com\/","title":{"rendered":"New York subway death accused fanned flames with shirt, prosecutors say &#8211; BBC.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A suspect accused of killing a woman by setting her on fire on a subway train has been charged with murder in a New York court.<!-- --><br \/>Sebastian Zapeta allegedly set the unidentified woman&#x27;s clothes on fire, and then fanned the flames by waving a shirt around her, which caused the flames to fully engulf her, according to the criminal complaint.<!-- --><br \/>The 33-year-old  faces charges of first and second degree murder, as well as arson  for the attack on Monday. He will remain in custody until his next court appearance on Friday.<!-- --><br \/>Wearing a white jumpsuit over a black hooded sweatshirt, Mr Zapeta  did not speak when he was formally charged in court on Tuesday. <!-- --><br \/>The suspect&#x27;s attorney did not speak to reporters after the arraignment.<!-- --><br \/>Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described Sunday&#x27;s incident as &quot;one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being&quot;.<!-- --><br \/>She said the woman was on a stationary F train in Brooklyn when she was approached by a man who used a lighter to ignite her clothing &#8211; which became &quot;fully engulfed in a matter of seconds&quot;. <!-- --><br \/>Although officers extinguished the flames, the victim died at the scene.<!-- --><br \/>Officials say they have police body camera footage and surveillance footage from inside the subway as well as witness statements.<!-- --><br \/>Officers said the woman, who they have not named, was in a subway carriage at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station at about 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when the man approached her.<!-- --><br \/>The victim was &quot;motionless&quot; when she was set on fire, but detectives were still establishing whether or not she was asleep. &quot;We&#x27;re not 100% sure,&quot; said the NYPD&#x27;s Joseph Gulotta.<!-- --><br \/>There was no interaction between the pair before the attack, Mr Gulotta said, adding that police did not believe they knew each other.<!-- --><br \/>Describing how police were alerted to the incident, Ms Tisch said: &quot;Officers were on patrol on an upper level of that station, smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate&quot;.<!-- --><br \/>&quot;What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames.&quot;<!-- --><br \/>An immigration official said that Mr Zapeta entered the US illegally in 2018 and was detained and deported. The official said he subsequently unlawfully re-entered the US.<!-- --><br \/>The man got off the train as police officers on patrol in the station rushed to the fire, but he did not flee immediately.<!-- --><br \/>&quot;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,&quot; Ms Tisch said.<!-- --><br \/>She explained that police were therefore able to obtain &quot;very clear, detailed&quot; pictures of him from the responding officers&#x27; body worn cameras. The images were circulated by the New York Police Department (NYPD).<!-- --><br \/>Later, three high school-aged New Yorkers called 911 to report they had recognised the suspect on another subway train, Ms Tisch told reporters.<!-- --><br \/>The man was located after officers boarded the train and walked through the carriages.<!-- --><br \/>He was arrested at Herald Square station &#8211; which is located near the Empire State Building in Manhattan. He was found with a lighter in his pocket, Ms Tisch said.<!-- --><br \/>&quot;I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help,&quot; Ms Tisch added. &quot;They saw something, they said something and they did something.&quot;<!-- --><br \/>Trump&#x27;s promises to use America&#x27;s strength to its advantage helped propel him twice to the White House.<br \/>The Norad Tracks Santa website receives several million visitors each year from more than 200 countries and territories.<br \/>The legal team behind Mike Jeffries, arrested earlier this year on sex trafficking charges, has requested a hearing to determine his fitness to stand trial.<br \/>The 42nd president was admitted to hospital on Monday for tests and observation after developing a fever.<br \/>While Americans on the east coast brace for snow, on the west coast some are facing flooding and high surf warnings. <br \/>Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved.\u00a0<!-- --><i id=\"\" class=\"sc-7dcfb11b-0 kKcaog\">\u00a0<!-- --><\/i>The<!-- --><i id=\"bbc\" class=\"sc-7dcfb11b-0 kKcaog\"> BBC <!-- --><\/i>is<!-- --><i id=\"not-responsible-for-the-content-of-external-sites.\" class=\"sc-7dcfb11b-0 kKcaog\"> not responsible for the content of external sites.<!-- --><\/i>\u00a0<!-- --><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/editorialguidelines\/guidance\/feeds-and-links\" class=\"sc-c9299ecf-0 bZUiKB\"><b id=\"read-about-our-approach-to-external-linking.\" class=\"sc-7dcfb11b-0 kVRnKf\">Read about our approach to external linking.<!-- --><\/b><\/a><br \/>\u00a0<!-- --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiWkFVX3lxTE9Gay0xcXpSaUdiYWFZWXJ2N2VEZ2I2UzBJc2E1LXFfanh3Q3ItM2tUb2t3cjg1X3dqckI2MXFNX3JYelVRQWxXZmFQTThhZ0lyYWtEUDdLSUVBZ9IBX0FVX3lxTE5HSlFjX01KSnhORFRXSTVkaWdRSEJ5dzRGWFljdXVPUHFCMUFRNXg0U3V5Nk1CbHZCRnYxRm8zdzFrR3RKYi12SDZNbXl4cFdNTXo3MnhVV0twcVRmd2dz?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A suspect accused of killing a woman by setting her on fire on a subway train has been charged with murder in a New York court.Sebastian Zapeta allegedly set the unidentified woman&#x27;s clothes on fire, and then fanned the flames by waving a shirt around her, which caused the flames to fully engulf her, according [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-120101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}