High school senior, 18, charged with arson after New York subway passenger is set on fire
By Gordon Ebanks, Leigh Waldman and Maria Sole Campinoti
(CNN) — A high school senior was charged with federal arson after allegedly setting fire to a sleeping subway passenger in New York early Monday morning.
Hiram Carrero, 18, is accused of arson resulting in injury after authorities said he lit a piece of paper and dropped it near a 56-year-old man aboard a northbound 3 train passing 34th Street–Penn Station, the Department of Justice said Friday.
The victim then stumbled onto the platform at 42nd Street–Times Square, where his legs and torso can be seen ignited, according to a surveillance image attached in the release.
Police extinguished the flames, and the victim was hospitalized in critical condition.
Carrero briefly boarded the train before fleeing and taking a bus to Harlem, according to a criminal complaint. He was arrested Thursday in Harlem, where his attorneys said he lives with his disabled mother and acts as her primary caregiver, according to the Associated Press.
This case is the latest of a string of attacks in public transport in US cities in recent years, with victims intentionally set ablaze, notably in New York and Chicago, including train workers.
US District Judge Valerie E. Caproni ordered Carrero detained, citing the “heinousness of the crime,” after prosecutors appealed another magistrate’s decision to release him to home confinement under his mother’s supervision, the AP reported.
“The victim very well could have died in this case,” Assistant US Attorney Cameron Molis said, according to the AP.
Carrero was not required to enter a plea during his arraignment in Manhattan federal court. His mother attended the arraignment but declined to speak to reporters, the AP added.
Carrero’s lawyer, Jennifer Brown, acknowledged “the allegations are extremely serious,” but argued he is a “very young man with no (criminal record) and a mother willing to take him in.”
“The New York City subway is the heart of our City, with millions of people who live and work here relying on it every day,” US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement. “New Yorkers have the right to be safe and feel safe when they ride the subway, and our Office is committed to that result.”
“This attack is among the most serious acts of violence a person can commit, and it has no place in our city—above or below ground,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch added.
An overall drop in subway crime
Despite this incident, and a similar one nearly a year ago where 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta-Calil allegedly set 57-year-old Debrina Kawam on fire on the subway the morning of December 22, the New York Police Department says transit crimes are down.
Tisch said last week this has been “the safest November on our subways outside the pandemic period.”
According to November crime statistics provided by the NYPD, transit crime is down 24.8% compared to the previous year. The police department stated this was the safest July through November on the subway in recorded history, excluding the pandemic, when ridership was at historic lows.
Tisch also announced that the first 11 months of 2025 in New York City saw the fewest shooting incidents and shooting victims in recorded history. She attributes the drop in crime numbers to the NYPD’s Fall Violence Reduction Plan.
The plan is a “data-driven, precision-policing strategy to combat violent crime and shootings,” consisting of 54 zones that cover 38 communities, with nearly 2,000 uniformed officers assigned to nightly posts across the city, including public housing and the subway system, the police department agency said in a news release.
New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority also noted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s efforts to make the subway safer by increasing police funding and adding additional security cameras.
If convicted, Carrero faces a minimum of seven years in prison, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 4. The case is being prosecuted federally because it was investigated by a federal task force.
CNN’s Karina Tsui, Martin Goillandeau, Sharif Paget and Mounira Elsamra contributed to this report.
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