America outraged after 26-year-old set alight on public transport by serial offender with 72 arrests

American has been rocked by another horrific and senseless act of violence on public transport.

American has been rocked by another horrific and senseless act of violence on public transport.

Bethany MaGee has been identified as the 26-year-old woman who police say was set on fire on a Chicago L train earlier this month. She was allegedly attacked by a man with a long criminal history while travelling through downtown Chicago at night.

The suspect has been identified as Lawrence Reed, 50, a serial offender with 72 prior arrests. He is now facing federal terrorism charges in connection with the senseless fire attack.

According to the criminal complaint, MaGee was sitting on the train in downtown Chicago at about 9pm on 17 November.

She had her back turned to Reed, when he allegedly removed the cap from a bottle of liquid and poured it over her head and body.

MaGee fled for her life, but Reed is accused of chasing her, setting the bottle alight after it fell to the floor, then picking it up and using it to set her ablaze.

Engulfed in flames, MaGee somehow managed to get off the train before collapsing on the platform. Members of the public rushed to help her, and she was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

Bethany MaGee has been identified as the victim in the violent attack. Facebook/Bethany MaGee

The horrific attack has sent ripples of rage through the country, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy coming out smashing Chicago’s soft-on-crime policies that he claims let a dangerous convicted felon roam free.

“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,” he wrote on social media.

“This would never have happened if this thug had been behind bars. Yet Chicago lets repeat offenders roam the streets,” Duffy said. “Chicago’s carelessness is putting the American people at risk. No one should ever have to fear for their life on the subway.”

Just 20 minutes before the attack, Reed was captured on surveillance video at a Chicago petrol station, buying petrol and filling it into a plastic beverage bottle.

He was arrested the following day and charged with federal terrorism offences, which could make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

The attack left MaGee with “likely optic nerve damage and a concussion, causing her to experience memory issues, headaches, and daily nausea”.

A still from the video shows the attack on Chicago's CTA earlier this month.

Shockingly, a judge initially overruled a request from prosecutors to have Reed locked up.

At a hearing on Friday, prosecutors again pressed the court to keep him in custody, arguing he “presents a clear danger and persistent threat of terror to the community.”

“The state court system has been unable to contain defendant’s violent crimes, and federal intervention is now needed,” US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros wrote in the government’s detention motion.

His behaviour in court has also raised concerns.

At his initial appearance on Wednesday, Reed’s “deranged behaviour was on full display”, Boutros wrote, saying the accused repeatedly disrupted proceedings by “singing, babbling, and instructing the Court not to speak to him.”

He also attempted to interrupt the hearing by repeatedly shouting “I plead guilty!” as the judge tried to read him his rights, and repeatedly yelled over the judge that he was a Chinese citizen and wanted to represent himself.

Lawrence Reed is facing charges for the attack. Source: Chicago PD

Crim’s record stretches back decades

Reed has 22 prior arrests since 2016 alone, and 53 criminal cases in Cook County dating back to 1993 — nine of them crimes for which he pleaded guilty, officials said.

But he has only served time twice, spending a total of just two and a half years behind bars, according to CWB Chicago.

Court records viewed by the outlet show that in August, Reed was released with an electronic ankle monitor after knocking a social worker unconscious at a psychiatric hospital where he had been committed.

“Lawrence Reed had no business being on the streets given his violent criminal history and his pending criminal cases,” ATF Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Amon said at a press conference following Friday’s hearing.

“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.”

Reed now remains behind bars at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Centre, according to court documents.

This screengrab made from video provided by the Charlotte Area Transit System shows Iryna Zarutska, bottom right, before she was fatally stabbed on a commuter train on Aug. 22, 2025. (Charlotte Area Transit System via AP)

The Chicago attack has drawn grim parallels to another horrific incident on public transport in the US. September’s brutal, caught-on-camera knife murder of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, who was killed while minding her own business on a Blue Line train in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Zarutska was savagely butchered by Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, a diagnosed schizophrenic, who was free on cashless bail after a magistrate released him on a “written promise” to show up for court.

Brown had a nearly 20-year history of violence and mental illness.

Originally published as America outraged after 26-year-old set alight on public transport by serial offender with 72 arrests