Federal prosecutors charged a man on Wednesday, November 19, with terrorism for allegedly setting a woman ablaze on a Chicago train. Charging documents filed in the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Illinois showed that Lawrence Reed, 50, is being charged with a federal count of committing a terrorist attack on a mass transit system, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Reed allegedly set a woman, 26, on fire as she rode on a CTA Blue Line train on Monday night, November 17. She was hospitalized in critical condition with severe injuries.
Reed was sitting at the back of a car on a Blue Line L train when he approached the woman, who sat with her back to him, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrest affidavit, CNN reported. He doused the woman with what was believed to be gasoline, following which she ran to the back of the train car. Reed then ignited the bottle, approached the victim, and set her ablaze.
Reed was seen at a gas station in surveillance footage about 30 minutes before the unprovoked attack. He was seen filling a small container with gasoline, according to the affidavit.
The train pulled into a stop downtown after the attack, and Reed walked away. The victim, severely injured, stumbled out and collapsed on the platform. She was taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County with severe burns to her head and body, and remained in critical condition as of late Wednesday, as reported by CBS News. The victim’s name has not been released yet.
{{/usCountry}}The train pulled into a stop downtown after the attack, and Reed walked away. The victim, severely injured, stumbled out and collapsed on the platform. She was taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County with severe burns to her head and body, and remained in critical condition as of late Wednesday, as reported by CBS News. The victim’s name has not been released yet.
{{/usCountry}}"She was running off the train towards the middle of it, completely engulfed in fire," said witness Christopher Flores, per CBS News.
Bystanders attended to the victim on the platform.
"I went over to see what's going on," said Flores. "She's on the ground crying. Burnt to a crisp."
Reed was disruptive during his first appearance in a federal court on Wednesday afternoon. He yelled that he wanted to represent himself and claimed that he was a Chinese citizen. He also shouted “I plead guilty!” repeatedly as the judge tried to tell him about his rights.
On learning that he was facing terrorism charges, Reed was taken aback. "Terrorism? What is this all about?" he asked.
Who is Lawrence Reed?
Reed, of Chicago, has a long criminal record, with 49 arrests, including 10 felony cases, per CBS News Chicago. While three cases were dropped, six ended up with convictions ranging from probation to 30 days in the Cook County Jail. He faced two years in Illinois state prison in the case of one drug conviction from 2003.
One of the cases was an active aggravated battery case from last August, in which Reed allegedly hit a social worker at MacNeal Hospital Psychiatry and Behavioral Health in west suburban Berwyn. The attack led to loss of consciousness, ER visits, lasting memory issues, headaches, and daily nausea for the victim, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's office.
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Cook County prosecutors urged a judge to keep Reed in custody until his trial for the August incident. However, he was placed on electronic monitoring instead. A different judge later modified the monitoring hours.
Among other crimes Reed was accused of included a fire that was set outside the Thompson Center in April 2020. The same day, Gov. JB Pritzker was supposed to make an appearance. The felony charge in that case was eventually dropped.
Two months before that, Reef allegedly punched four women outside the Harold Washington Library downtown. He was also suspected of lighting a fire outside Chicago's City Hall just last week.
Reed also pleaded guilty to breaking windows on a CTA Blue Line train at O'Hare International Airport in 2019.
"Lawrence Reed had no business being on the streets, given his violent criminal history and his pending criminal cases. Reed had plenty of second chances by the criminal justice system, and as a result, you have an innocent victim in the hospital fighting for her life," said ATF Special Agent-in-Charge Chris Amon. "Because of the swift action of CPD, ATF, and our law enforcement partners, there will be no more chances for Mr. Reed."
When Reed was taken into custody on Tuesday morning, November 18, he was wearing the same clothing he was seen in in the surveillance footage. He had a burn wound on his right hand, and had a CTA card in his possession that had allowed him access to the Blue Line train at Kedzie and Congress on Monday night, according to the charging document.
This attack drew comparisons to the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was ambushed and stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train by Decarlos Brown Jr in August. The 23-year-old woman had fled her war-torn home to seek safety in the US.