A young woman was doused with gasoline and set on fire while riding Chicago’s Blue Line in an attack so savage it reads like a nightmare, and federal prosecutors have now charged the suspect, 50-year-old Lawrence Reed, with a terrorism offense for attacking a mass transportation system. The disturbing surveillance footage and the Department of Justice’s criminal complaint make clear this was a premeditated, unprovoked act that sent an innocent 26-year-old into a trauma unit fighting for her life.
Video and investigators show Reed filling a bottle with fuel minutes before the assault, getting on the train, pouring the liquid over the victim, then igniting it and watching her burn as other passengers froze. The image of a woman aflame while commuters looked on is a moral indictment of a city that has allowed public spaces to become zones of terror.
This monster was allegedly on electronic monitoring at the time, out on pretrial release for separate violent conduct after decades of run-ins with the law, and prosecutors warned the court he posed a continuing danger. Court records and reporting show repeated violations of his release terms and a rap sheet that reads like a catalog of missed chances by the criminal-justice system.
The transcript of the August hearing — obtained and reported by several outlets — captures prosecutors pleading for public safety while a judge allowed broad allowances for this defendant, saying, according to the transcript, that she could not keep “everybody in jail because the state’s attorney wants me.” That line, whether you call it judicial humility or judicial negligence, now looks grotesquely consequential.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s public response — calling the attack “an isolated incident” and urging calm while promising more transit investment — was tone-deaf and defensive when families and commuters are terrified. Labeling violent, repeat offenders as anomalies while they prey on everyday citizens is exactly how a culture of permissiveness becomes a culture of carnage.
This is not about partisan outrage; it’s about cause and effect. Policies that hamstring prosecutors, tie judges’ hands, and emphasize early release over public safety have real victims. When the system rewards leniency for violent repeat offenders, ordinary people pay the price with their safety, their peace of mind, and sometimes with their lives.
Federal prosecutors have at least stepped in to pursue the maximum penalties available under the terrorism charge, but federal indictments are only a bandage on a hemorrhage caused by decades of failed local policy. Accountability must start now: judges who ignore prosecutors’ warnings, elected officials who downplay repeated violent crime, and agencies that treat recidivism as inevitable must be confronted and changed.
If we love our cities and care for the brave Americans who ride public transit to work, school, and shift jobs, we must demand an immediate return to common-sense law and order. Vote, call your representatives, and insist that the protections of the law are restored for victims rather than excuses for predators. Chicago’s latest horror should be a wake-up call to every hardworking family that safety is not negotiable and that our leaders will be judged by whether they act to stop this carnage now.
