MANHATTAN: New York City’s subway system recorded 10 murders in 2024, matching the 25-year high set in 2022. This grim milestone underscores a troubling rise in transit violence, with felony assaults and other crimes continuing to plague the underground.
The latest outrage came as a Guatemalan illegal migrant, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, allegedly burned a sleeping woman to death on a Brooklyn train, a crime NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit.”
Violence marred the weekend with several other incidents, including:
- Sunday: A 76-year-old woman was slugged on the No. 6 train platform, and a 27-year-old man was brutally attacked at Bleecker Street station.
- Early Sunday: A 69-year-old man, acting in self-defense, stabbed two migrants attempting to rob him on a No. 7 train in Queens.
- Saturday: Two young men, 18 and 21, were shot at Avenue U station in Brooklyn by suspects who appear to be teens.
- Friday: An 83-year-old man was savagely beaten after tripping over another passenger’s leg on a Lower Manhattan train.
With transit murders doubling since last year and violent crimes escalating, the city’s leadership continues to deflect blame rather than address the root causes: lax enforcement, open borders policies enabling unchecked illegal migration, and a justice system that prioritizes leniency over public safety.
The data paints a stark picture: subway murders have surged past historic lows of fewer than five annually from 1997 to 2019. Felony assaults remain consistent year-over-year, with 565 reported so far in 2024. Without immediate policy changes, New York commuters remain at the mercy of a transit system descending into chaos.
