The man who set a woman on fire on board a Chicago transit train earlier this week has been hit with a federal terrorism charge, according to a criminal complaint.
Lawrence Reed, 50, was charged with one count of committing a terrorist attack or other violence against a mass transportation system on Wednesday out of the Northern District of Illinois in connection with the Monday night attack.
The incident unfolded just before 9:30 p.m. on a CTA blue line train.
Surveillance footage captured the moment Reed walked through the train car while holding a bottle and approached the victim, a 26-year-old woman with her back towards him. He then poured liquid over her head and body and attempted to ignite it, according to the criminal complaint.
The woman fought him off and ran towards the front of the train as Reed chased behind. Reed ignited the bottle in his hand, dropped it and later picked it up and lit the victim on fire with the bottle, the complaint said. He then ran to the front of the train car and “stood watching” as “her body was engulfed in flames,” according to the filing.
The woman was “almost fully engulfed in flames” and tried to roll on the ground to put out the blaze, the complaint said.
A Chicago police officer patrols the Clark Street and Lake Street Blue Line stop on Nov. 18, in Chicago.Erin Hooley / AP
The train stopped at the Clark and Lake Street stop located in “The Loop” in downtown Chicago, where she exited the train and collapsed, then was tended to by people on the platform. Reed also exited the train car and walked away from the scene, according to the compliant.
When police arrived, they found the victim laying on her back on the platform “with severe burns to her face and body,” the complaint said.
On the train car, investigators also found a partially melted bottle, a lighter, a clear “suspected ignitable liquid” from where the victim had been sitting, and what appeared to be the victim’s burned clothing, the complaint said.
Retracing Reed’s steps, investigators found surveillance footage of Reed at a gas station convenience store shortly after 9 p.m. on Monday evening. That footage showed he filled a small container with gasoline at a gas pump, then went to a blue line station nearby, according to the complaint.
Reed was arrested on Tuesday morning, found wearing the same clothes as he wore during the train incident. He was also found to have “fire related injuries to his right hand,” the complaint said.
While he was being transported to a detective division, reed “made repeated spontaneous and unprompted utterances, specifically yelling ‘burn b—-’ and ‘burn alive b—-,’” according to the filing.
Reed appeared in federal court Wednesday afternoon, where he repeatedly yelled “I plead guilty!” as soon as he entered the courtroom, according to NBC Chicago.
He declined counsel and he started to sing so he wouldn’t hear the judge. The judge and prosecutor agreed Reed will have a medical mental evaluation.
