An elderly man is in critical condition after reportedly catching on fire inside Manhattan’s Penn Station on Friday.
Emergency personnel responded to the subway station after MTA police received a call about a man on fire at approximately 8 p.m. ET.
“MTA Police Officers responded to the scene and located a 67-year-old male with burn injuries to both of his legs and upper body,” an NYPD spokesperson said.
Emergency responders transported the man to New York-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell Medical Center for treatment, where he remains in critical condition.
The NYPD and MTA police are investigating together, but no arrests have occurred so far in this case.
Authorities recently arrested an illegal immigrant connected to the horrifying death of a woman burned alive in Brooklyn.
This incident highlights ongoing concerns regarding safety and crime in New York’s public transportation system.
Sebastin Zapeta, 33, faces charges of first- and second-degree murder, as well as first-degree arson.
Surveillance video captured the suspect approaching the woman, who sat motionless, possibly sleeping, aboard a stationary F train.
He then ignited her clothing, setting her on fire as passengers watched in shock at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station.
The victim has not been identified.
Her clothing “became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” said New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
She described the case as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.”
The suspect then sat on a nearby bench outside the train car and watched as officers extinguished the flames.
Paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene.
Police arrested him hours later while he rode the same subway line.
Tisch noted that authorities found a lighter in his pocket.
Border Patrol arrested Zapeta on June 1, 2018, after he crossed illegally into Sonoita, Arizona.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Marie Ferguson, the Trump administration deported him just days later on June 7.
Ferguson added that Zapeta then re-entered the U.S. illegally “on an unknown date and location.”
She added that after Zapeta is charged and details of where he is being held are released, Enforcement and Removal Operations “will lodge an immigration detainer with the NYPD location where he is being held.”