NEW YORK (AP) — The person accused of burning a lady to dying inside a New York Metropolis subway prepare used a shirt to fan the flames, a prosecutor stated Tuesday at his arraignment on homicide costs.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, who federal immigration officers stated is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally, was not required to enter a plea and didn’t converse on the listening to in Brooklyn prison court docket.
Zapeta, carrying a white jumpsuit over a weathered black hooded sweatshirt, will stay jailed and is due again in court docket on Friday. His lawyer didn’t ask for bail.
Zapeta is charged with two counts of homicide, accusing him of deliberately killing the lady and killing her whereas committing arson. He’s additionally charged with one rely of arson. The highest cost carries a most sentence of life in jail with out parole.
Brooklyn District Lawyer Eric Gonzalez referred to as the assault a “gruesome and senseless act of violence” and stated it will be “met with the most serious consequences.”
The apparently random assault occurred Sunday morning on an F prepare that was stopped on the Coney Island station. The sufferer’s identification remains to be pending.
Authorities say Zapeta approached the lady, who could have been sleeping within the prepare, and set her clothes on hearth with a lighter.
Zapeta then fanned the flames with a shirt, engulfing her in hearth, Assistant District Lawyer Ari Rottenberg stated in court docket Tuesday.
Zapeta then sat on a bench on the subway platform and watched, Rottenberg stated.
Based on Rottenberg, Zapeta instructed detectives that he didn’t know what occurred however recognized himself in pictures of the assault.
Zapeta’s lawyer, Andrew Friedman, didn’t converse to reporters after the arraignment.
Video on social media seems to point out some folks wanting on from the platform and not less than one police officer strolling by whereas the lady is on hearth contained in the prepare.
NYPD Transit Chief Joseph Gulotta stated Sunday that a number of officers responded to the hearth and one stayed to maintain the crime scene “the way it’s supposed to be” whereas the others went to get hearth extinguishers and transit employees.
“Officers who were on patrol on an upper level of that station smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate. What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch stated.
They finally put the hearth out, however “unfortunately, it was too late,” Tisch stated, and the lady was pronounced useless on the scene.
Zapeta was taken into custody Sunday afternoon whereas using a prepare on the identical subway line after youngsters acknowledged him from pictures circulated by the police.
A Brooklyn handle for Zapeta launched by police matches a shelter that gives housing and substance abuse help. The shelter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Federal immigration officers stated Zapeta was deported in 2018 however later reentered the U.S. illegally.
The crime deepened a rising sense of unease amongst some New Yorkers in regards to the security of the subway system, amplified by graphic video of the assault that ricocheted throughout social media.
General, crime is down within the transit system in comparison with final 12 months.
Main felonies declined 6% between January and November in comparison with the identical time interval final 12 months, based on knowledge from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. However murders are up, with 9 killings this 12 months by November in comparison with 5 throughout the identical interval final 12 months.
There have additionally been a number of high-profile incidents, together with one in September the place police inadvertently shot two bystanders and a fellow officer once they opened hearth on a person holding a knife in entrance of a prepare.
Earlier this month, a Manhattan jury acquitted former Marine Daniel Penny within the chokehold dying final 12 months of an agitated subway rider. The case grew to become a flashpoint in debates over security, homelessness and psychological sickness on the system.
Policing the subway is troublesome, given the huge community of trains shifting between 472 stations. Every cease accommodates a number of entry factors and, in lots of stations, a number of flooring and platforms.