NEW YORK – The person accused of burning a sleeping woman to death inside a New York Metropolis subway practice is about to be arraigned Tuesday on homicide and arson fees.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, will seem in Brooklyn court docket in reference to the killing of Debrina Kawam, 57.
Prosecutors say Zapeta lit the New Jersey native on fireplace on a stopped F practice at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station on Dec. 22. Zapeta then fanned the flames with a shirt earlier than sitting on platform bench and watching as Kawam burned, they allege.
Prosecutors say Zapeta confirmed to police he was the person in surveillance images and movies of the fireplace however mentioned he drinks quite a lot of alcohol and didn’t recall what occurred.
Zapeta, a Guatemalan citizen who authorities say entered the nation illegally after being deported in 2018, faces a number of counts of homicide in addition to an arson cost. The highest cost carries a most sentence of life in jail with out parole.
He was beforehand arraigned on a prison criticism, however in New York, all felony instances require a grand jury indictment to proceed to trial except a defendant waives that requirement.
Prosecutors with Brooklyn District Lawyer Eric Gonzalez’s workplace introduced Zapeta had been indicted in late December.
Zapeta’s lawyer did not reply to an e-mail in search of remark Monday night.
The killing has renewed discussion about security within the nation’s largest mass transit system whilst crime within the subway remains relatively rare.
Transit crime is down for the second straight 12 months, with a 5.4% drop final 12 months in comparison with 2023, based on data released by police Monday, which additionally confirmed a 3% general drop in main crimes citywide.
Nonetheless, New York Metropolis Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned in a Monday information convention discussing the statistics that riders merely “do not feel secure.”
In response, she mentioned the division will surge greater than 200 officers onto subway trains and deploy extra officers onto subway platforms within the 50 highest-crime stations within the metropolis.
“We all know that 78% of transit crime happens on trains and on platforms, and that’s fairly clearly the place our officers have to be,” Tisch mentioned. “That is just the start.”
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