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Chicago commuters watched in horror as surveillance video captured a man walking down a Blue Line car, dousing a young woman in a liquid and igniting her while she sat minding her own business. The victim was nearly engulfed in flames, stumbled off at Clark/Lake, and was rushed to Stroger Hospital in critical condition with severe burns covering a large portion of her body. This wasn’t an accident or a random scuffle — it was a calculated, barbaric attack on an innocent rider.
Federal prosecutors say the suspect, identified as 50-year-old Lawrence Reed, was charged with committing a terrorist attack or other violence on a mass transportation system, a charge that reflects the sickening public-safety implications of the case. Authorities recovered a melted bottle, a lighter, ignitable liquid, and footage showing him buying gasoline and filling a small container shortly before boarding the train. If this crime doesn’t send a message that repeat violent offenders will be treated with the full force of federal law, nothing will.
The shocking part — and the part every hardworking American should be furious about — is Reed’s history. Local reporting shows Reed had been arrested dozens of times over decades, with reports ranging from 22 to 49 prior arrests and multiple felony cases, yet he was repeatedly released back onto the streets. Notably, Cook County prosecutors had warned judges after an August aggravated battery arrest, but a judge opted for electronic monitoring instead of jail time.
Court documents and law-enforcement statements paint a portrait of systemic failure: surveillance captures, gas purchases on camera, and an arrest the day after the attack when Reed was still wearing the same clothes and showed fire-related injuries. The ATF and Chicago Police swiftly moved to federal custody, which is the right call given the scope and brutality of this attack on public transit. Yet the central question remains — how many chances does a violent repeat offender get before our justice system protects the rest of us?
This case underscores the dangerous consequences of soft-on-crime policies and misguided judicial presumptions of release, enforced in Illinois by reforms that tilt toward letting defendants remain free pretrial. Instrumental decisions to keep violent people under supervision, rather than behind bars, have real victims — and in this instance a young woman is fighting for her life because the system failed to prioritize public safety. Politicians who cheer these policies while commuters suffer must be called out and held accountable.
Chicago’s mayor and local leaders are scrambling to reassure riders, promising investments and safety plans, but the truth is blunt: rhetoric won’t stop someone who was repeatedly let loose despite a violent track record. Conservatives must demand common-sense reforms — restore jail as an option for dangerous repeat offenders, tighten pretrial rules for those with violent histories, and stop punishing law-abiding citizens with experimental leniency that only benefits criminals.
Every parent, every commuter, and every taxpayer deserves to ride public transit without fearing a man will randomly douse them in gasoline and set them on fire. This is a moment for politicians, judges, and prosecutors to stop coddling repeat offenders and start protecting ordinary Americans again. If we fail to fix the incentives that produce monsters on our streets, the next headline will be written on a worse morning — and the blood will be on those who refused to act.
