After being arrested by Chicago law enforcement officials within the Loop on Tuesday morning, the person accused of setting a girl on hearth aboard a Blue Line practice this week spontaneously yelled “Burn b****!” and “Burn alive b****!” in line with a newly filed federal legal criticism.
Lawrence Reed, a 50-year-old man on pretrial launch for allegedly knocking a psychiatric ward social employee unconscious in August, is federally charged with a terrorist assault or different violence towards a mass transportation system.
In a criticism filed Wednesday morning, an agent of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives describes Monday’s random assault on a 26-year-old girl in gut-wrenching element, saying CTA surveillance video confirmed Reed dousing the lady with gasoline, igniting her, and watching as she burned earlier than strolling away.
The allegations describe a sequence of occasions that started about 20 minutes earlier than the assault, when Reed was recorded at a West Aspect gasoline station filling a small container with gasoline whereas carrying the identical clothes later seen on CTA surveillance footage. The criticism says Reed walked from the Citgo station towards a close-by Blue Line station at Kedzie and Congress, the place CTA data present a transit card linked to him was used to board a practice at 9:04 p.m. Monday.
At 9:24 p.m., cameras inside a Blue Line practice automobile captured the sufferer sitting in the course of the automobile whereas Reed sat on the rear. With none obvious interplay, the affidavit says Reed stood up, approached the lady from behind, eliminated the cap from the bottle he was holding, and poured the liquid over her head and physique.
When he tried to ignite the liquid, the lady fought him off and ran towards the entrance of the practice, the criticism mentioned. Reed then ignited the bottle itself, dropped it, picked it again up whereas it burned, and used it to set the lady on hearth, in line with the criticism. Display screen captures included within the submitting allegedly present Reed shopping for the gasoline and strolling towards the cowering, soaking-wet sufferer with a flaming bottle.
The practice reached the Clark and Lake platform moments later. Investigators wrote that the sufferer exited the practice whereas nonetheless engulfed in flames and collapsed on the platform, the place bystanders rushed to assist her. Reed allegedly walked away from the scene.
As CWBChicago reported on Tuesday, a supply mentioned no one on the practice automobile with the lady and Reed made any effort to help her as she burned.
Responding officers arrived round 9:25 p.m. and located the lady mendacity on her again with extreme burns to her face and physique. Contained in the practice, police recovered a melted bottle, a lighter, clothes stays, and what they described as ignitable liquid pooled on a passenger seat close to the place the lady had been sitting.
Reed was arrested Tuesday morning round 11:29 a.m. close to 140 West Washington Road after officers noticed him carrying the identical clothes seen in each the practice and gasoline station movies. Physique-worn digicam recordings captured what federal brokers described as hearth accidents on Reed’s proper hand.
Through the trip to the detective division, Reed repeatedly yelled phrases that included “burn b****” and “burn alive b****,” in line with the affidavit. These statements have been described as spontaneous and unprompted.
The sufferer’s situation was not included within the federal submitting, however CPD mentioned on Monday she was in important situation.
In April 2020, Reed poured gasoline alongside the north finish of the Thompson Middle and set it ablaze as a result of he had not acquired his Social Safety (SSI) verify, prosecutors mentioned on the time. He began the hearth as Gov. JB Pritzker was getting ready to carry his every day COVID-19 press convention contained in the constructing, however there was no indication that Pritzker was focused or that Reed knew the governor was current.
That fireside was caught on digicam by a passerby:
Reed finally pleaded responsible to arson and acquired two years of “psychological well being probation” from Choose Arthur Hill. Regardless of being arrested 3 times on misdemeanor expenses, together with twice for battery, whereas on probation, the court docket deemed his probation efficiency “passable” after prosecutors dropped all of these expenses.
Coincidentally, the Clark-Lake Blue Line station is positioned within the basement of the Thompson Middle.
On August 19, Reed allegedly knocked a social employee unconscious whereas he was being handled at MacNeal Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Berwyn, in line with court docket data.
In a detention petition filed three days after that incident, state prosecutors mentioned he struck the feminine social employee “in regards to the face with an open hand, inflicting [the] sufferer ache and lack of consciousness.”
The sufferer, who was on responsibility on the time, suffered “excessive nausea, extreme ache within the eye and head, and issue with stability” that prompted two emergency room visits, the petition mentioned. She “doubtless has optic nerve bruising and a concussion inflicting her to expertise reminiscence points, complications, and every day nausea,” a prosecutor wrote, charging Reed with aggravated battery inflicting nice bodily hurt.
Regardless of the allegations, Choose Teresa Molina-Gonzalez rejected the detention request and ordered Reed launched on digital monitoring relatively than being put in jail. Whereas the court docket clerk’s notes describe the monitoring as “24/7,” a doc signed by Molina-Gonzalez exhibits she licensed him to go away dwelling from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays. The order additionally barred him from the psychiatric hospital “until it’s a medical emergency.”
On September 12, court docket data present Choose Ralph Meczyk modified Reed’s digital monitoring order to permit him out of his dwelling throughout some daytime hours on Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Neither order would have allowed Reed to be on the CTA, or out of his dwelling, at 9:35 p.m. on Monday or any day. The case continues to be pending.
Over the weekend, somebody matching Reed’s basic description set a fireplace outdoors Metropolis Corridor on LaSalle Road, in line with a CPD report. Mayor Brandon Johnson informed the press on Monday, “Whereas we have no idea the motives of this tried arson, it goes with out saying that this sort of violence has no place in our politics.”
Yesterday, we requested his workplace if Johnson had any proof that politics performed any position within the Metropolis Corridor hearth. We’re nonetheless ready for a response.
Reed has not been charged with the Metropolis Corridor hearth.
He’s the nineteenth particular person accused of killing or making an attempt to kill somebody in Chicago this yr whereas on felony pretrial launch.
The “not horrible” collection
This report continues our protection of people accused of killing, taking pictures, or making an attempt to kill or shoot others on pretrial launch for a felony allegation. CWBChicago started our collection of experiences in November 2019 after Prepare dinner County Chief Choose Timothy Evans publicly said, “We haven’t had any horrible incidents happen” below the court docket’s bond reform initiative.
The precise variety of murders and shootings dedicated by folks awaiting trial for felony allegations is undoubtedly a lot increased than the numbers seen right here. Since 2017, CPD has introduced expenses in lower than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, in line with town’s knowledge. You possibly can see the entire “not horrible” tales right here.
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