Disturbing video footage shows the accused killer fanning the flames as Kawam was engulfed by the fire and calmly observing the charred victim from a bench on the platform. The Coalition for the Homeless identified her as homeless. Kawam was positively identified through fingerprints, according to sources. Sources informed The Post that she was still alive when the fire was set, with a walker and multiple bags found nearby.
The city’s medical examiner faced challenges in identifying the severely burned body due to the intensity of the attack, as previously reported by sources. Guatemalan immigrant Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, allegedly witnessed the woman burning in the incident that took place on Dec. 22. Police reported that Zapeta-Calil left the Brooklyn station but was apprehended by NYPD officers in Manhattan, as detailed by the Post.
Zapeta-Calil, who has been charged with first- and second-degree murder as well as arson, is currently being held without bail at Rikers Island. Federal immigration authorities revealed that he illegally entered the US in 2018 but was deported shortly after, only to re-enter the country and end up in New York City.
By March 2023, he had become a part of the New York City shelter system. Sebastian Zapeta-Calil faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the heinous subway arson incident that occurred on Dec. 22. A friend at the Brooklyn facility where Zapeta-Calil was last staying disclosed to The Post that the migrant had a habit of using the synthetic drug K2 and consuming alcohol heavily on a daily basis.
The accused killer reportedly informed police that he was so under the influence that he had no recollection of starting the fire. Raymond Robinson, a fellow shelter resident who slept near Zapeta-Calil until his arrest, shared, “He smoked K2, drank, and bugged out. He would bug out and talk to himself when he was high, but never harmed anybody but himself. That’s why this messed with my head because I slept next to him, and he was never like that. I wouldn’t leave my daughter with anybody, but he was the type of dude I could trust. As long as he wasn’t high.”
Robinson added that Zapeta-Calil favored drinking Voda vodka, which he described as “the cheapest stuff there is.”
