Woman Set on Fire While Sleeping in Subway Car

A person of interest is in custody after someone lit a woman on fire on a Brooklyn subway train Sunday morning.

The woman, who has not been identified, died, WABC reported.

Police said the suspect, a 33-year-old man, walked up to the sleeping woman and set her ablaze with a lighter. There was no interaction between them.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the woman’s clothes were engulfed within seconds, WCBS reported.

Nearby police officers and an MTA employee used a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze. Medical personnel arrived shortly afterward, but the woman was pronounced dead.

Surveillance cameras captured clear images of the suspect, and later on Sunday, three high schoolers spotted him on another train and called 911. He was taken into custody at Herald Square.

“In today’s case, we were able to get incredibly clear and detailed images of the suspect from the initial incident,” Tisch said. “Then, we asked the media to broadcast those images far and wide so we could use the viewing public as a force multiplier — and New Yorkers came through again.”

The person of interest has not yet been charged, but Tisch said he came to New York from Guatemala in 2018 and was found with a lighter in his pocket. Investigators are trying to decipher a motive.