An 18-year-old in Manhattan is facing arson charges, accused of lighting a fire in a subway car near a sleeping homeless man who suffered critical burn injuries.
At 3:03 a.m. Monday suspect Hiram Carrero entered a northbound train at the 34th Street–Penn Station subway stop, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said Friday. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Carrero found a piece of paper on the floor of the subway car, lit it on fire near a sleeping person and then quickly moved to get out of the train just before the doors closed.
As the train traveled northward, the fire spread up the victim’s legs and a portion of the train car. The victim got off at the 42nd Street–Times Square station, still on fire, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Law enforcement at the scene put out the fire and got the victim taken to the hospital in critical condition.
The victim is a 56-year-old homeless man, according to the New York Daily News.
Mr. Carrero is charged in federal court with arson resulting in injury to another person. If convicted, Mr. Carrero faces between a minimum of seven years and a maximum of 40 years in prison. He also faces charges from the state of New York, including attempted murder, according to WABC-TV.
Mr. Carrero, who was arrested Thursday, remains detained in custody. Prosecutors successfully appealed a magistrate judge’s initial decision to let him stay confined at home under his mother’s supervision, according to The Associated Press.
“It’s hard for me to understand why an 18-year-old young man who’s in high school is out at 3 o’clock in the morning setting people on fire,” U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Valerie Caproni said when ordering Mr. Carrero detained, according to the AP.
Mr. Carrero lives with his mother, Wanda Carrero, 63, in Harlem, and acts as her primary caregiver. Ms. Carrero told the New York Daily News that “I don’t understand. My son is a kind and decent kid,” before refusing to answer any further questions.
The incident comes nearly a year after the death of Debrina Kawam, 57, on a stopped train in Brooklyn on Dec. 22, 2024. Guatemalan illegal Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of lighting Kawam on fire as she slept, fanning the flames and then sitting outside the train on a bench as she burned to death.
Mr. Zapeta pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and arson charges in federal court on Jan. 7, 2025.
