EGN NEWS DESK
NEW YORK — New York Police introduced Tuesday they’ve recognized the lady who died on Dec. 22 after being set on fireplace whereas inside a New York subway practice as a 61-year-old from New Jersey.
The girl, Debrina Kawam, had a Toms River, New Jersey, deal with, in response to NYPD.
Authorities beforehand stated they have been utilizing forensics and video surveillance to establish the sufferer, who burned to loss of life on a subway automotive in Brooklyn. The man accused of lighting her on fireplace, Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was taken into custody hours after police disseminated pictures of a suspect.
He’s since been indicted on homicide and arson fees. Zapeta stays jailed. Federal immigration officers say the 33-year-old is from Guatemala and entered the U.S. illegally.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams stated Tuesday that Kawam had a “transient stint in our homeless shelter system” and that authorities had been in touch along with her subsequent of kin. He didn’t say when Kawam was within the homeless system.
“Hearts exit to the household, a horrific incident to must stay by way of,” Adams stated at an unrelated press briefing. “It impacts on how New Yorkers really feel. But it actually reinforces what I’ve been saying: People shouldn’t be dwelling on our subway system, they need to be in a spot of care. No matter the place she lived that ought to not have occurred.”
Zapeta is accused by prosecutors of lighting Kawam on fireplace on a stopped F practice at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station as she seemed to be sleeping. He then fanned the flames with a shirt, engulfing her within the blaze, earlier than sitting on a platform bench and watching as she burned, prosecutors stated.
Kawam was pronounced dead on the scene.
“This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, weak girl on our subway system,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez stated after his indictment was introduced.
Zapeta has but to enter a plea within the case. His indictment is anticipated to be unsealed on Jan. 7. He was not current at a Dec. 27 listening to and his legal professional declined to remark afterward. When questioned by police, prosecutors say Zapeta claimed to not know what had occurred, noting that he consumes alcohol. He did establish himself in images and surveillance video exhibiting the hearth being lit, in response to prosecutors.
He was arrested hours after the Kawam’s loss of life after police acquired a tip from a bunch of highschool college students who acknowledged pictures of the suspect circulated by police.
