New York Governor Kathy Hochul was slammed on social media Sunday after touting how safe the New York City subway system has become thanks to her efforts – just hours after a woman was set on fire and burned to death on a train.
In an X post on Sunday, Hochul claimed that crime has decreased on Big Apple trains since she deployed the National Guard in March. Last week, Hochul sent 750 National Guard members to the subways in an effort to curb holiday crime.
“In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day,” Hochul’s post read. “Since deploying the @NationalGuardNY to support @NYPDnews and @MTA safety efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down, and ridership is going up.”
Hochul’s post came around eight hours after a migrant from Guatemala allegedly set a woman on fire and watched her burn to death on an F train in Brooklyn. The horrific crime had been widely reported by the time the governor’s tweet went up.
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Kathy Hochul was widely-criticized after she touted her efforts to make the NYC subway safe, just hours after a migrant allegedly set a woman on fire. (Getty Images / NYPD)
The incident took place at the Stillwell Avenue station at around 7:30 a.m., according to the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
Several social media users responded to Hochul’s tweet with graphic footage of the immolation. The tweet also briefly had an X community note attached to it, which referenced the killing.
Melissa DeRosa, who served as secretary under former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, called out the sitting governor’s post and mentioned that another person had been murdered.
“2 people were murdered in the subway today,” DeRosa wrote. “The governor of the state of ny is a tourist who can’t even bother to read a newspaper while she’s in town.”
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Police said the man threw a lighter on the woman, and she became engulfed in flames in just seconds. (NYPD)
Advocacy group AntiSemitism called out the governor’s communications employees, writing that Hochul “need[s] a new social media team.”
Lori Mills, the vice chair of the Ventura County Republican Party, also responded to the poorly-timed tweet.
“You must have missed today’s news,” Mills said bluntly to Hochul.
Sources identified the person of interest to Fox News Digital as 33-year-old Sebastin Zapeta, saying he entered the U.S. from Guatemala approximately a year ago, but whether he did so legally or illegally was unclear.
Fox News Digital has reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more information on Zapeta.
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Members of the NYPD and National Guard conduct randomized bag searches in New York City’s subway system on Monday, March 11, 2024. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)
Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul’s office for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
