NYPD officers identified her as 57-year-old Debrina Kawam, originally from Toms River.
A woman who died after being set on fire on a New York City subway train this month has been identified, according to police.
The woman was identified as 61-year-old Debrina Kawam of Toms River, New Jersey, according to the New York Police Department.
Kawam was sleeping on a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn on the morning of Dec. 22 when she was set on fire allegedly by a 33-year-old Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally, according to police.
Who is Debrina Kawam
Debrina Kawam of Toms River, N.J., was burned alive on Dec. 22 in a videotaped killing that shocked New York.
She is believed to have been homeless and was sleeping on the subway when she was set on fire.
Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that Kawam briefly spent time in the city’s shelter system.
He reiterated people should not be living in the subway system, “they should be in a place of care… we cant throw up our hands and allow that to happen.”
The police identified the woman as Debrina Kawam of Toms River, N.J. She was the victim of an apparently random attack captured in videos that showed her bracing herself against the doorway of an F train in Coney Island, her body engulfed by flames. Hours later, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, the 33-year-old man accused of attacking Ms. Kawam, was charged with first-degree murder and arson.
Ms. Kawam’s identity was confirmed on Monday through fingerprint analysis, said Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office. Ms. Kawam was 57, though police officials initially had said she was 61.