In December 2024, a lady was brutally set on hearth in a New York Metropolis subway. She has now been recognized as 57-year-old Toms River, New Jersey, resident Debrina Kawam. Because the NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams spoke to the press, they defined extra particulars concerning the terrifying crime.
Learn on to study extra about Kawam and the case beneath.
Who Was Debrina Kawam?
Kawam was a 57-year-old lady from Toms River, New Jersey. The preliminary report from the NYPD claimed that she was 61, however this has since been corrected. Mayor Adams additionally identified that Kawam had a “temporary stint” in New York’s homeless shelter system.
“Our hearts exit to the household,” Adams mentioned throughout a information press convention on December 31, 2024. “A horrific incident to should stay via and simply watching that tape, simply actually — I couldn’t even watch it all over. It was only a unhealthy incident, and it impacts on how New Yorkers really feel.”
🚨#Brooklyn : Authorities have recognized the sufferer within the horrifying F practice assault as Debrina Kawam, 61, of Toms River, New Jersey. Kawam was sleeping on a stationary practice on the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station when Sebastian Zapeta, 33, allegedly set her on hearth and… pic.twitter.com/rXRuiupQQf
— Citizen NYC (@CitizenAppNYC) December 31, 2024
What Occurred to Debrina Kawam on a Subway?
On December 22, 2024, Kawam was asleep on an idle F subway practice in Brooklyn. A person was seen close to her within the practice automotive at round 7:30 a.m. that morning, and he set her on hearth. He fled the scene.
The suspect within the case was recognized as 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, who was arrested that very same day. Subway riders known as 911 once they observed Zapeta-Calil hours after the incident when he was seen on police physique cam footage, NBC News reported. The suspect was arrested and indicted on 4 counts of homicide and one depend of arson.
Per the Brooklyn District Lawyer’s Workplace, Zapeta-Calil was charged on one depend of first-degree homicide, three counts of second-degree homicide and one depend of first-degree arson. If convicted, the first-degree homicide cost carries a life sentence in jail, in response to NBC.
How Many Subway Murders Have Occurred in 2024?
There have been a minimum of 10 murders on New York Metropolis subways in 2024, in response to the New York Post. Police mentioned that this introduced a 25-year excessive that was initially set in 2022. All through 2024 alone, there have been beatings, slashings, intentional burnings and different brutal murders within the metropolis’s practice system.
How Many Subway Killings Have Occurred in NYC’s Historical past?
In response to knowledge proven by VitalCityNYC.org, there was a minimum of one killing on the New York subways since 1997. Since that yr, there have been greater than 80 subway murders.
