A suspect has been arrested for allegedly killing a woman after setting her on fire on a New York City subway.

The unidentified victim was on her way to the Stillwell Avenue train station in Brooklyn when a man set her clothing on fire with a lighter around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 22, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch reported in a press conference.

According to the inspector, the suspect “calmly walked towards the victim” who was sitting at the end of the wagon. He then set fire to her clothing and she was “completely encased within seconds.”

Officers patrolling an upper level of the station “saw smoke” and rushed to the train and put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. Unfortunately, the victim was pronounced dead at the scene, Tisch revealed. Michael Kemper, chief safety officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, called it a “brutal, senseless murder,” according to the conference.

Surveillance footage from inside the subway car showed the attacker wordlessly walking up to the woman and setting fire to the blanket she was wrapped in. The suspect then sat on a bench and watched the woman burn, CNN and NBC News reported. New York City Mayor Eric Adams called the act “depraved” in a statement on X.

The police initially did not know that the suspect had remained at the crime scene, Tisch said in the press conference.

However, their bodycam footage provided a detailed profile of the suspect and images of the man in question were distributed. Three high school students subsequently identified him and called 911, Tisch said.

Public transport officers spotted the man sitting on another train and he was arrested eight hours after the attack. Charges are still pending, the New York Police Department confirmed, according to CNN and NBC News. According to media reports, no other passengers were injured in the attack.

Want to stay up to date with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, breaking trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams wrote on

PEOPLE reached out to the NYPD for further comment but did not immediately receive a response.