Federal prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against a man accused of setting a woman on fire on a CTA Blue Line train in downtown Chicago this week.
Lawrence Reed, 50, was charged in a criminal complaint with committing a terrorist attack or violent act on a mass transportation system, making it a federal offense rather than a state charge.
Andrew Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said the 26-year-old victim was simply reading her phone on an O’Hare-bound Blue Line train around 9 p.m. Monday when Reed approached and set her on fire without any provocation.
“The surveillance video is difficult to watch, and very disturbing, as a young woman was set ablaze, and tried to put herself out, while other passengers got out of the way or watched,” Boutros said.
Chicago police investigators obtained surveillance video from CTA Blue Line train car No. 3236, which showed the victim seated in the middle of the car and Reed sitting in the back, according to a federal affidavit.
The footage shows Reed standing with a bottle in hand, walking up behind the victim, and pouring a liquid over her body. He then attempted to ignite it, the affidavit said.
At first, the woman fought Reed off and ran toward the front of the train, the affidavit said. Reed chased her and dropped the bottle on the floor.
The victim then ran back toward the rear of the train car.
Reed picked up the now-burning bottle, approached the woman again, set her on fire, and then stood watching as her body was engulfed in flames, the affidavit said.
She tried to extinguish the flames by rolling on the floor. When the train stopped at Clark/Lake, she was still on fire and collapsed on the platform.
“She was running off the train towards the middle of it, completely engulfed in fire,” witness Christopher Flores said.
Bystanders helped her on the platform as she cried in pain.
Investigators found the woman lying on her back with severe burns to her face and body, according to an ATF affidavit. Sources said burns covered more than half of her body. She was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she remained in critical condition late Wednesday.
Reed exited the train at Clark/Lake and left after the attack.
Investigators later found a partially melted bottle, the ignitable liquid, a lighter, and burned clothing in the train car, the affidavit said.
Surveillance video from a Citgo gas station on West Harrison Street showed Reed about 20 minutes before the attack. He was wearing the same clothes seen in the train footage and was captured paying a cashier and filling a small container with gasoline. Cameras
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