"Out Of Control": Trump Targets Rivals After Woman Set On Fire On Chicago Subway

A 26-year-old woman was set on fire aboard a moving CTA Blue Line train in downtown Chicago by a man with 72 prior arrests. The attack occurred around 9 pm on November 17, police said.

The security video, obtained by NBC News, shows the suspect, Lawrence Reed, walking through the train with a bottle in his hand. He went behind the woman, identified as Bethany MaGee, poured a liquid on her head, and tried to set her ablaze. The woman struggled and ran towards the front of the train as Reed chased her.

While running, he lit the bottle, dropped it, picked it up again, and then used it to set the woman on fire. Next, he went to the front of the train car and watched while the flames enveloped the woman.

The complaint said the woman was "almost fully engulfed in flames" and tried to roll on the floor in a desperate attempt to extinguish the fire. The train then stopped at the Clark and Lake Street station, where the woman stumbled out and collapsed on the platform. 

The suspect, 50, also stepped off the train and casually walked away from the scene. When officers reached the station, they found the victim lying on her back with "severe burns to her face and body," the complaint said.

US President Donald Trump has described Chicago as "out of control".

Speaking during the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon at the White House, Trump said, "This is a very serious thing. They burned this beautiful woman riding in a train. A man was arrested 72 times. Think of that. And they'll let him out again, the liberal judges will let him out again."

Trump targeted Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and accused them of refusing to take federal help despite rising crime. He claimed that when he sent federal forces to other major cities in the past, crime fell sharply.

He called Mayor Johnson incompetent and insulted Governor Pritzker, saying he should invite federal help to "make Chicago safe".

"We're going to lose a great city if we don't do it quickly. We're ready to go. It's horrible what's happening in Chicago. The people of Chicago want us to go there," Trump added.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also reacted sharply to the case, calling it shocking that a man with 72 previous arrests was now accused of attacking 26-year-old Bethany MaGee on Chicago's L train and setting her on fire, according to the NY Post.

He further stated that the incident could have been prevented if Reed had been in jail instead of being allowed to move freely in the city. Reed is now facing federal terrorism charges for the violent attack. "Chicago's carelessness is putting the American people at risk. No one should ever have to fear for their life on the subway," Duffy said.

Officials said Reed's criminal history stretches back decades. Since 2016 alone, he has been arrested 22 times. He has 53 criminal cases in Cook County, dating all the way back to 1993. Out of those cases, nine were serious felony charges, and he admitted guilt in each of them.

But even with such a long criminal record, Reed has barely spent any time in prison. According to CWB Chicago, he has only been locked up twice, and altogether he has served about two and a half years behind bars.