UPDATE, 12/23/24, 8:42 a.m. Eastern: On Monday morning, ABC and NBC remained completely uninterested in this horrifying act of violence with nothing on Good Morning America and Today, respectively. The segment on CBS Mornings was nearly identical with the exception of Tammy Mutasa being replaced by Michael George.
The original post continues below.
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Three days before Christmas, the nation is horrified to learn details of the murder by fire of a woman on the New York city subway. The one legacy media newscast that bothered to report this story omitted significant details regarding the suspect’s immigration status.
Watch the full report as aired on the CBS Weekend News on Sunday, December 22nd, 2024 (Click “expand” to view the transcript):
JERICKA DUNCAN: Now to a disturbing and deadly attack here in New York City. Tonight, police say they have a suspect under arrest after a woman sleeping in a subway car was set on fire. She later died. CBS’s Tammy Mutasa is in New York with details on what exactly happened. Tammy?
TAMMY MUTASA: Jericka, you know, this was a brutal attack on a woman who just appeared to be sleeping on a public train. And police found that victim when they saw smoke during a routine patrol. Horrifying moments inside an F train on the New York City subway. Just before 7:30 this morning, NYPD investigators say a woman was set on fire and burned to death. Police say as the train approached the last stop in Brooklyn, the suspect walked up to her, lit her on fire and stayed on the scene, watching her burn from the train platform. After the NYPD released images of a person of interest, three young men called 911 when they saw the suspect on a different subway. Police stopped the train and arrested the man.
MICHAEL KEMPER: There must be strong and swift consequences on this person, and I use that term lightly, who committed this brutal, brutal homicide.
MUTASA: And Jericka, the NYPD said cameras have been installed in every subway car. And it's because of images from those cameras that led to this arrest. This week, Governor Kathy Hochul announced an additional 250 National Guard members will be deployed inside the subway cars to make sure that everyone is safe.
DUNCAN: Tammy Moutasa reporting in New York City tonight. Thank you.
To CBS’s credit, they aired a report (as did also Telemundo). ABC, NBC and Univision couldn’t be bothered to air a report at all, despite the fact that weekend newscasts usually draw more resources from New York affiliates. However, there was one major omission. Per Fox News:
While police did not identify the person of interest, a high-level NYPD source told Fox News Digital the individual entered the U.S. illegally from Guatemala in 2018, when President-elect Trump was president during his first term. The person of interest has no prior arrests in New York City and one prior arrest in Arizona, the source said, though details about the arrest were not available.
Other reporting shows the suspect as having arrived in 2023. Perhaps this indeterminate immigration status explains Univision, ABC and NBC’s reluctance to cover the story. An illegal alien burning a woman to death on the NYC subway would serve as a gruesome capstone to President Joe Biden's immigration policy.
The lone network newscast to mention immigration, albeit tangentially? Telemundo, who aired NYPD Chief of Transit Joe Gulotta:
JOE GULOTTA: That individual arrived here, it looks like, 2018- from Guatemala. Just want to put that point out. And that's all we have on them right now, but with that being said- no one on the scene identified him, so, as being there.
With less than a month before President Donald Trump is inaugurated, the Regime Media are showing why they earned that nickname: in this instance, their refusal to air news that is politically damaging to Democrats in power.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on Noticias Telemundo Fin de Semana on Sunday, December 22nd, 2024:
JOHANNA SUAREZ: We begin today with breaking news. In New York, authorities arrested a person of interest in connection with the murder of a woman who was set on fire in a subway train car in Brooklyn. We now move on to Yaimeé Bell, who is in New York with all the details.
YAIMEE BELL: The press conference was held here at NYPD Headquarters. They reported that the man is in police custody thanks to a call made by three students to 911.
JOE GULOTTA: That individual arrived here, it looks like, 2018- from Guatemala. Just want to put that point out. And that's all we have on them right now, but with that being said- no one on the scene identified him, so, as being there.
BELL: These students identified the man and called the police. The subject was on a train that was later boarded by the authorities, who searched car by car until they took him into custody. They found a lighter in his pocket, which he allegedly used to commit the crime. This call to 911 was made around three or four in the afternoon. The incident occurred this Sunday, around 7:30 in the morning. The subject approached and set fire to a woman who was sleeping aboard an F train at the Stilwell Avenue station, Brooklyn. NYPD confirmed that the woman was sitting in an idle subway car and that there were several bottles of alcohol around her at the scene. Officers patrolling the subway felt something burning and found the woman on fire. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, but has not yet been able to be identified due to the conditions in which she was left. I tell you that in 2023, 2,231 crimes were committed in the transit system in New York City, and so far in 2024, at least 2,095 have been reported, a decrease of 6%. This same week, the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, reported that 100% of subway cars are equipped with security cameras to prevent crime. And this is the reason why the community managed to identify the suspect so quickly. Joanna, back to you.
SUAREZ: Now, what is happening in New York is troubling. Thanks to Yaimeé for that report.
