New York’s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is facing political criticism for saying she made New York’s subways safer on the same day that a woman was set on fire and burned on a train.

In an X post on Sunday, Hochul claimed that subway crime has declined since she deployed the National Guard to combat the problem.

“In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who ride the trains every day,” Hochul’s post reads. “Since deploying the (National Guard) to support (NYPD) and (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) security efforts and installing cameras on all subway cars, crime has decreased and ridership has increased.”

That followed a news conference last week in which the governor said subway crime was down 42% since January 2021 and discussed plans to send 750 National Guard members to the subways to help curb holiday crime .

But Hochul’s post came eight hours after a man allegedly set a homeless woman — a seemingly stranger to him — on fire and watched her burn on an F train in Brooklyn.

According to the New York Police Department, the attack occurred around 7:30 a.m. Sunday at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station. Police said the man threw a lighter at the woman and within seconds she burst into flames.

A suspect in the case, who has since been arrested, allegedly sat on a subway bench and watched the woman burn before standing up to fan the flames.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Sunday evening that surveillance footage indicated the victim and her attacker were both riding the train early in the morning.

As the train pulled into the station, the attacker walked up to the woman, who may have been sleeping, and, according to authorities, used a lighter to set fire to the victim’s clothing — “which was completely engulfed within seconds,” Tisch said.

“Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had remained at the scene, sitting on a bench on the platform directly in front of the train car, and the responding officers’ body-worn cameras provided a very clear, detailed view of the killer. said Tisch.

Police body cameras and surveillance images were crucial to the suspect’s arrest, investigators said. And authorities blamed three high school-aged New Yorkers who recognized the suspect and called police.

“Our officers … stopped this train at Herald Square and were able to keep the doors closed, escort the train and take this very dangerous individual into custody,” said Mass Transit Police Chief Joseph Gulotta.

The suspect was found with a lighter in his pocket, the inspector said.

Police sources told Fox News Digital a person of interest in the case, 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta, who said he first entered the U.S. from Guatemala in 2018, during Donald Trump’s first presidency.

A video circulating on social media appeared to show the suspect in Sunday’s subway killing saying at one point in Spanish on a train: “I drink my beer and live what I am – as long as I don’t bother anyone “I don’t.” doesn’t bother anyone. Why do damn people have problems with me? That’s the problem. I don’t give a shit.”

The timing of Hochul’s tweets about subway security drew criticism, and many users of the social platform responded with video clips of Sunday’s murder.

Melissa DeRosa, who served under former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said the murdered woman was not the only person who died on the subway Sunday.

“Two people were murdered on the subway today,” DeRosa wrote. “The governor of New York State is a tourist who doesn’t even bother to read a newspaper while she’s in town.”

The second case DeRosa referred to occurred hours earlier – when a man was stabbed and another was seriously injured on a 7 train in Queens.

According to police, as of November, nine subway homicides have been reported in 2024, compared to five during the same period in 2023.

But subway crime is likely to become a dominant issue as both Hochul and New York Mayor Eric Adams – who is facing federal bribery charges – prepare for re-election campaigns.

In early December, a Manhattan jury acquitted former Marine Daniel Penny of the involuntary manslaughter of Jordan Neely, a homeless man who had been threatening subway passengers when Penny grabbed him from behind and held him in a chokehold for several minutes.