Day: December 23, 2024

At least two high-profile subway crimes rocked the outer boroughs just days after Gov. Kathy Hochul added hundreds more National Guard members to the train system — leaving New Yorkers skeptical of their safety both above and below ground.

Quick-thinking police, along with help from the media and members of the public, arrested a suspect for the depraved killing of a woman who was set on fire as she was on board a Brooklyn F train, burning her to death on Sunday morning. The suspect was charged Monday with first-degree murder.

Also on Sunday, a would-be perp was killed after he attempted to rob a stranger who fought back in self-defense by stabbing his attacker to death on board a 7 train in Queens. Several suspects were apprehended in connection with the deadly incident.

Both incidents happened after two people were shot at a Q train station in Brooklyn. Two people remained at large as of Monday afternoon.

After the horrific arson homicide in Brooklyn on Dec. 22, Hochul doubled down on her decision to add 250 more National Guard members to the subway system and cameras in every subway car on Dec. 18.

“A suspect is now in custody for the horrific incident on the F train,” she said in a statement on Sunday. “Our brand-new security cameras helped law enforcement find the suspect and arrest him.”

Despite the governor’s efforts to reinforce a sense of safety in the subways, many NYC public transportation users told amNewYork Metro Monday remained skeptical about security, and stressed that more must be done to protect them.

“I think there needs to be more consequences for violent crimes,” said Shula Wise, a Queens resident. “But this is something that has to be done on the City Council and court levels. Nothing can be done to protect the public in the subways if the city is soft on crime.”

Jessica Eitsirhc, who lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, does not feel safe when she rides the trains. She would love to see more enforcement on trains to protect riders in addition to the National Guard members on platforms.

“If something happens to me on a train, no one is going to help me,” she said. “There needs to be people there to intervene. And if their presence is known, it may also minimize crime on the actual cars not just stations where the National Guard is. They’d just go to a different station to avoid them.”

But other New Yorkers do not see the issue solely as one of subway safety. Rather, they say, the answer is to address the city’s other social and economic woes, such as affordable housing, inflation, and high costs of living.

Public transportation users felt the effects of some of these issues recently after the MTA board approved both congestion pricing on Nov. 18 and later a subway and bus fare hike, which will likely be $3 come Aug. 2025.

One New Yorker, of whom amNewYork Metro obliged her request for anonymity, said having the National Guard on subways does not make her feel safe and also does not see security cameras as a financial priority for reducing crime. She is more concerned with the “poor quality of life” in NYC.

“The problem with the city is not the subways being more dangerous. It’s the poor quality of life, limited resources, and rising inflation,” she said. “Using our tax dollars to increase patrolling and installing cameras is not where our money should be spent.”

Still, others say keeping the city’s trains safe comes down to old-fashioned police patrol. 

“I honestly never see the National Guard unless I’m at some big station in Manhattan, like Grand Central. I always felt the 7 line was fairly safe until this weekend,” said Harold, a Queens resident, alluding to Sunday’s fatal stabbing on the train. “I would like to see more police officers on trains. It’s really the only deterrent.”

A WOMAN WAS SPRAYED with pepper spray while she was taking part in a stoop sale raising money for humanitarian aid to Gaza on Nov. 23.

The post Woman pepper-sprayed at stoop sale raising money for Gaza appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

The man accused of setting fire to a woman on board a Brooklyn train on Sunday morning remains in police custody and was hit with first- and second-degree murder charges Monday.

Law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, who was being detained at the 60th Precinct. Detectives escorted him from the Coney Island stationhouse on Dec. 23; wearing a Tyvek suit, Zapeta-Calil said nothing to reporters waiting outside while keeping his head down as he was loaded into a police car en route to Kings County Criminal Court for arraignment.

Zapeta-Calil — whom representatives of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said allegedly entered the U.S. illegally five years ago, was deported and somehow returned at an unknown time — allegedly walked up to a sleeping woman on board an F train at the Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island stop on the morning of Dec. 22 and set her clothing on fire with a lighter.

Video of the incident went viral and showed the woman standing on the train while engulfed in flames. Quick-acting officers and staff worked to extinguish the blaze, but the woman, whose identity is still unknown, died. 

Police officers cuffed Zapeta-Calil on Sunday afternoon in Herald Square after being spotted by a group of teens who recognized his image, which had been circulated from the scene.

When taken into custody, sources familiar with the case told amNewYork Metro, Zapeta-Calil was found to possess an ID from a Queens shelter. However, police noted his residence as being 338 Forbell St. in Brooklyn, which is listed as the Samaritan Daytop Village Forbell — an outpatient drug and alcohol rehab center.

Meanwhile, cops confirmed that Zapeta-Calil is an immigrant who illegally arrived in the U.S. from Guatemala. According to ICE, authorities removed him from the United States on June 7, 2018, back to Guatemala, yet they say he then reentered America at a later date where he then, at some point, made his way to New York.   

Police confirmed that both the victim and the suspect did not know one another, and the attack was completely unprovoked. Sources also state that the suspect only has one prior arrest in Arizona, which is believed to have been connected with his alleged illegal entry into America.

Over 24 hours after the sickening incident shocked the city, NYPD detectives are still working to identify the female victim — whose remains were so severely burned as to be unrecognizable.