A deranged attack on a Chicago Blue Line train has left a 26-year-old woman fighting for her life after authorities say 50-year-old Lawrence Reed poured gasoline over her and set her on fire while other passengers watched in horror. The assault unfolded on Nov. 17, 2025, in the Loop and was captured on surveillance video that federal prosecutors say shows Reed filling a bottle at a gas station shortly before the attack. This was not a random act of youthful folly — it was a premeditated, barbaric assault on an innocent commuter that should shock every law-abiding American.
Federal prosecutors have now charged Reed with committing a terrorist attack against a mass transportation system, an appropriate response to an atrocity carried out in a public space meant to be safe for working people. Court records and local reporting show Reed has an extensive criminal history going back decades, with dozens of arrests and multiple convictions, yet somehow he remained on the streets. When a man with that record is free to roam public transit with a gas can, our criminal-justice system has failed commuters and families who rely on mass transit to get to work.
The Department of Justice made clear the charge carries a potential life sentence, and the U.S. attorney called the act an attack that “strikes at the core of our American way of life,” language that finally recognizes how these violent crimes terrorize everyday citizens. If local authorities and progressive prosecutors keep treating repeat offenders like minor nuisances, the only thing left to do is hand the case to federal prosecutors who are willing to use every tool available to protect the public. Conservatives should applaud the federal response while demanding it be matched by real reforms at the city level.
Make no mistake — this was predictable and preventable. Reports indicate Reed had been arrested many times since the 1990s and was out on electronic monitoring for a prior violent charge, which raises painful questions about prosecutors, judges, and the mental-health system that released him into the public. Chicago leaders and their soft-on-crime policies must explain why dangerous repeat offenders are not being held accountable and why working Americans must pay with their safety.
Now is the moment for tough, unambiguous action: pursue the maximum penalties, ensure victims receive every bit of care and compensation available, and overhaul the policies that let violent recidivists roam free. Hardworking commuters — not career criminals or ideological experiments in leniency — deserve safe streets and trains, and it’s time to put public safety ahead of political signaling. If the feds secure a severe sentence, let it be a warning that America will no longer tolerate open-air lawlessness on our public transit.
