The man charged with murder in the woman’s death was identified by federal officials as a 33-year-old from Guatemala who was in the United States illegally.
The man accused of burning a woman to death on a subway train in Brooklyn over the weekend was identified by federal immigration officials Monday as a 33-year-old from Guatemala who was in the United States illegally.
The man, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, first entered the country in 2018, was deported days later and returned to the U.S. sometime afterward, Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a statement. Mr. Zapeta-Calil was arrested on Sunday shortly after the attack and was charged on Monday with first-degree murder and arson, authorities said.
His address was a homeless shelter for men with substance abuse problems in East New York, Brooklyn.
The seemingly random attack, some of which was captured on video, horrified public officials and New Yorkers.
The police said that Mr. Zapeta-Calil did not appear to know the woman or have any interaction with her before the attack. When he got on the F train in Queens, the woman, who has not yet been identified and who appeared to be homeless, was already on it, and they rode on the same train for over an hour until the train reached its terminus in Coney Island, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an investigation.
According to the police, the woman was sitting motionless, apparently asleep, in the parked F train in Coney Island around 7:30 a.m. Sunday when the man simply walked up to her and without a word took out a lighter and lit her on fire.
