Authorities have identified the woman who was critically injured after being set on fire aboard a Chicago L train on November 17.
Bethany MaGee, 26, was attacked by 50-year-old Lawrence Reed, a longtime offender with 72 prior arrests and multiple convictions dating back decades.
Surveillance video shows Reed holding a flaming bottle as MaGee ran toward the back of the train.
Highlights
- Bethany MaGee, 26, was set on fire aboard a Chicago L train by Lawrence Reed, a man with 72 prior arrests.
- Reed doused MaGee with gasoline and ignited her while she fled the train carriage, according to surveillance footage.
- Reed faces federal terrorism charges with a possible life sentence after burning MaGee and shouting threats during arrest.
Bethany MaGee was set on fire by Lawrence Reed, a man with 72 prior arrests
Image credits: Bethany MaGee/Facebook
According to a criminal complaint, MaGee was sitting in the middle of the train car, reading her phone, when Reed approached her from behind around 9 p.m.
He doused her head and body with gasoline that was in a plastic bottle and tried to ignite the liquid.
Surveillance video shows Reed chasing MaGee as she ran from one end of the carriage to another. But Reed then ignited the bottle and set her on fire, according to the affidavit.
Image credits: U.S. Attorney's Office
The video shows MaGee engulfed in flames as she fell to the floor and tried to extinguish the fire by rolling. Reed allegedly stood nearby and watched, and no passengers intervened while she burned.
When the train reached Clark and Lake, MaGee managed to exit the car while still on fire and collapsed on the platform, where two bystanders rushed to her aid and helped put out the flames.
Image credits: Bethany MaGee/Facebook
Emergency responders took her to a hospital in critical condition with severe burns to her face and body, and she remains in critical condition.
Prosecutors then obtained pictures showing Reed buying gasoline at a nearby gas station about 20 minutes before the attack, and filling a small plastic container inside the station.
He was arrested the morning after the incident and remains in federal custody. According to court documents, Reed made incriminating statements and had burns on his right hand.
Lawrence Reed faces federal terrorism charges that carry a possible life sentence
Image credits: U.S. Attorney's Office
The investigator wrote that Reed carried out the attack “with the intent to cause death and serious bodily injury to one or more persons” on the train. He also allegedly shouted “burn alive b***h” when he was arrested.
Reed faces federal terrorism charges that carry a possible life sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Bond stated on Friday that Reed has spent 32 years cycling through the criminal justice system, has been arrested 72 times, and has eight felony and seven misdemeanor convictions.
Image credits: U.S. Attorney's Office
Records show that in August, he was charged with aggravated battery after knocking out a social worker at a psychiatric hospital where he had been committed. He left her with “likely optic nerve damage and a concussion, causing her to experience memory issues, headaches, and daily nausea.”
Prosecutors had asked a judge to detain him after the incident, but he was released with an ankle monitor.
Reed’s first appearance in federal court was on Wednesday, where he allegedly shouted, “I plead guilty, I plead guilty, I plead guilty.”
Image credits: U.S. Attorney's Office
According to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew S. Boutros, Reed was “singing, babbling, and instructing the court to not speak to him,” Fox News reported.
He also told the court that “he wanted to go home” and repeatedly yelled over the judge that he was a Chinese citizen and wanted to represent himself.
When Magistrate Judge Laura McNally asked Reed if he knew that the maximum sentence was life in prison, he responded with “It’s cool, it’s cool, it’s cool.”
ATF Special Agent in Charge Chris Amon said Reed “had no business being on the streets.”
‘No one should ever have to fear for their life on the subway,’ Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said
Image credits: Skyler Gerald/Unsplash
“Reed had plenty of second chances from the criminal justice system, and as a result, you have an innocent victim in the hospital fighting for her life. Because of the swift action of CPD, ATF and our law enforcement partners, there will be no other chances for Mr. Reed,” Amon added.
McNally suggested that a mental and medical evaluation be done for Reed. But Boutros noted that Reed had not been declared mentally incompetent in connection with any of his prior charges.
“The state court system has been unable to contain [the] defendant’s violent crimes, and federal intervention is now needed,” Boutros wrote in the government’s detention motion.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X, “It is devastating that a career criminal with 72 PRIOR ARRESTS is now accused of attacking 26-year-old Bethany MaGee on Chicago’s L train, and setting her on fire.”
“This would never have happened if this thug had been behind bars. Yet Chicago lets repeat offenders roam the streets. Chicago’s carelessness is putting the American people at risk. No one should ever have to fear for their life on the subway,” he added.
Just three months ago, in a similar incident, Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was stabbed and killed on a Charlotte light rail train by a man with 14 prior cases, Decarlos Brown Jr.