Man accused of fatally burning woman on subway waives appearance, will return to court Jan. 7
Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The Brooklyn district attorney said he’s confident in the first-degree murder case against a man accused of setting a woman on fire and killing her as she slept on a New York City subway car.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, waived his appearance in court Friday and will return to court on Jan. 7, when the indictment will be unsealed at his arraignment, prosecutors said.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez told reporters on Friday that he will do everything in his power to hold Zapeta responsible for his “malicious deed.” Gonzalez also thanked the grand jury for watching the disturbing images ahead of the holidays.
Zapeta was arrested on Monday in connection with the Sunday morning subway attack and was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree arson.
He made his first court appearance on Tuesday and was held without bail. He has not entered a plea.
Around 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the unidentified victim was asleep on a stationary F train in Brooklyn when a man approached her and lit her clothes on fire with a lighter, police said.
Authorities do not believe the two knew each other and did not have a previous interaction, police said.
The suspect left the subway car after the incident, but images of him were captured on officers’ body cameras because the suspect stayed at the scene, sitting on a nearby bench, according to police. Those images were released as police requested the public’s assistance in identifying the man.
Three high school students recognized him and contacted police, authorities said.
Zapeta was taken into custody in a subway car at Manhattan’s Herald Square on Sunday evening. Police said he was found with a lighter in his pocket.
Zapeta is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He told authorities he does not know what happened, but he identified himself in the surveillance images.
(NEW YORK) — The family of Malcolm X, the Black resistance leader who was assassinated in 1965, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the U.S. government, they announced Friday.
Ilyasah Shabazz, Malcolm X’s daughter, who represented her family at a New York City press conference, and her lawyers claim that they have uncovered new evidence that they believe will prove that the NYPD and FBI conspired to kill Malcolm X.
“We fought primarily for our mother, who was here,” Ilyasah Shabazz said of Betty Shabazz, who died in 1997, from the site of the former Audubon Ballroom, where her father was killed. “My mother was pregnant when she came here to see her husband speak; someone who she just admired totally and to witness this horrific assassination of her husband …”
Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the age of 39. He was shot a total of 21 times by a group of men in front of his wife and daughters.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, said that the lawsuit alleges authorities engaged in a decades-long cover-up that deprived Malcolm X and his family of justice. The suit seeks accountability for the harm caused by the alleged unlawful and unconstitutional actions of these agencies and individuals.
According to the complaint, Mustafa Hassan, a witness to Malcolm X’s killing, revealed that when he and others tried to apprehend one of the alleged shooters, it appeared to him that the NYPD officers at the scene tried to help the shooter escape.
Lawyers representing the family said that authorities never bothered to take a statement from Hassan even though it was allegedly clear that he was present during the assassination, implying that law enforcement willfully neglected to conduct a proper investigation.
Attorneys also claim to have sworn affidavits from two of Malcolm X’s former personal security guards. They were allegedly entrapped and jailed by an undercover NYPD officer a week before Malcolm X’s death to ensure the assassination was successful, according to attorneys.
The NYPD declined to comment on the allegations due to the pending litigation.
The family’s lawyers said that there were nine FBI informants in the ballroom the day Malcolm X was killed. One of the shooters was heavily connected to the FBI and received favors by authorities after the assassination, according to attorneys.
Lawyers said a New York FBI special agent sent a letter to J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director at the time, in December 1964 calling for extra surveillance of Malcolm X’s activities, since the Black resistance activist allegedly intended to have the oppression of Black Americans brought before the United Nations. About two months later, Malcolm X was assassinated.
According to The Washington Post, The FBI’s COINTELPRO, an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program, operated in secrecy for decades as investigators surveilled organizations and individuals that they deemed a threat to American interests. Targets of the program included civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and former Illinois Black Panther Party Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton.
The FBI did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for a statement.
Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam were originally convicted in the murder of Malcolm X but later exonerated in the 1965 assassination. They received a $36 million settlement in October 2022 after lawsuits were filed on their behalf in 2021 against both the city and the state of New York.
New York City agreed to pay $26 million in settling a lawsuit filed on behalf of Aziz and also Islam, who was exonerated posthumously in the killing. Meanwhile, the state of New York also agreed to pay an additional $10 million.
“I’m grateful on behalf of my sisters,” Ilyasah Shabazz said. “To stand here with a competent, ethical group of experts, legal experts, as we seek justice for the assassination of our father.”
An ABC News graphic shows the fire forecast in Southern California on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. Via ABC News.
(LOS ANGELES) — Another round of Santa Ana winds is forecast to sweep into Los Angeles on Thursday night into Friday morning, putting most of the region under a critical fire risk, as emergency responders battle to contain five quickly spreading wildfires.
The wind in the region relaxed overnight as the low pressure, which was helping enhance the wind, is moving away into Texas.
But high pressure is building from the north and that will help to tighten the pressure gradient over Southern California, producing more gusty winds.
Those winds may help spread the five sprawling wildfires that are spread around the Los Angeles area and that emergency responders are attempting to contain.
Thousands of structures have been damaged or destroyed and more than 100,000 people evacuated as uncontrolled infernos spread.
Red flag and high wind warnings have been issued through Friday afternoon for wind gusts 40 to 60 mph, with 70 mph possible in the mountains surrounding the California city.
Relative humidity could drop to as low as 5% for Southern California.
Because of the dry and windy conditions anticipated, a critical fire risk has been issued for much of the area for the next 24 hours.
An air quality alert has also been issued for Southern California, including Los Angeles, due to thick wildfire smoke and dust being blown around.
Smoke is forecast to engulf most of the Los Angeles basin.
ABC News’ David Brennan contributed to this report.
Luigi Mangione is seen inside the police station in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Dec. 9, 2024/Obtained by ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Prosecutors at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury as they work to secure an indictment against Luigi Mangione for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, sources told ABC News.
The DA’s office declined to comment due to the secrecy surrounding grand jury matters.
An indictment could strengthen the case for extradition, which Mangione is fighting.
The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate remains in custody at a Pennsylvania state prison after a judge denied bail on Tuesday.
“He has constitutional rights and that’s what he’s doing” in challenging the interstate transfer, defense attorney Thomas Dickey told reporters on Tuesday.
Three shell casings recovered outside the Midtown Manhattan hotel where Thompson was fatally shot match the gun allegedly found on Mangione when he was arrested, police announced Wednesday.
Fingerprints recovered from a water bottle and a Kind bar near the crime scene have also been matched to Mangione, police said.
In Pennsylvania, he faces charges including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun.
In New York, he faces charges including second-degree murder.
