(CHICAGO) — A man accused of pouring gasoline on a woman and setting her on fire on a Chicago L train in an unprovoked attack will remain in custody, a judge ruled on Friday, saying he poses a danger to the community.
The suspect — Lawrence Reed, 50, of Chicago — faces a federal terrorism charge for what prosecutors called a “horrific and gruesome attack” that left the victim with severe burns.
During a detention hearing on Friday, Reed declined legal counsel and decided to represent himself, telling the judge he would also like to be detained for his safety, Chicago ABC station WLS reported.
The attack occurred Monday night near the Clark and Lake station on a Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train and was captured on CTA security video, authorities said.
Authorities said Reed was also captured on surveillance footage filling up a bottle at a gas station pump 20 minutes before allegedly pouring the liquid on the victim and then, after she fought him off and ran away, lighting her on fire. Prosecutors said the security footage clearly captures the suspect’s face.
The victim, a 26-year-old woman, had been sitting on the train looking at her phone with her back to the suspect when she was randomly attacked, prosecutors said.
She was transported to a local hospital in critical condition with severe burns. She remains hospitalized with critical injuries, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Reed was arrested the following day and charged with committing a terrorist attack against a mass transportation system. He has not yet entered a plea, online court records show.
Prosecutors had asked the court to detain the suspect pending trial, arguing in a motion ahead of Friday’s court hearing that he “presents a clear danger and persistent threat of terror to the community” based on the circumstances of the crime and his criminal history.
“The state court system has been unable to contain defendant’s violent crimes, and federal intervention is now needed,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros wrote in the government’s detention motion.
Reed has been arrested by Chicago police at least 72 times over the past 30 years, with at least 15 of the arrests since 2016, according to the filing.
He has approximately 15 convictions, including for criminal damage to government property, drug possession and an arson incident in 2020 in which he lit a government building in downtown Chicago on fire, according to the filing.
At the time of Monday’s attack, Reed was facing aggravated battery charges in the Circuit Court of Cook County for striking someone in the head at a hospital in Berwyn, Illinois, three months ago, according to the filing. A judge ordered him released from custody on electronic monitoring “over the objection of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office,” and another judge later removed the condition of electronic monitoring, according to Boutros. He was ordered to follow a curfew that would not have allowed him out of his residence at the time the train attack occurred, Boutros said.
“Defendant has been leniently treated in state court, including receiving probationary sentences for violent offenses and pre-trial release for a victim-involved crime,” Boutros wrote. “In exchange for such lenient treatment, defendant has consistently re-offended and delved further into criminality.”
Boutros also argued Reed’s behavior during his initial court appearance on Wednesday — in which he “disrupted the proceedings by singing, babbling, and instructing the Court to not speak to him” — shows that he is also “unable or unwilling to cooperate at this stage in the proceedings.”
Based on his conduct during the hearing, the judge recommended Reed undergo a psychological evaluation, according to court records.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
