A vigil was held in Brooklyn for Debrina Kawam, who died after being set on fire on a subway in December. Community leaders and lawmakers gathered to honor her life and call for justice.
A vigil was held Sunday in Brooklyn for Debrina Kawam, the woman fatally set on fire on a subway back in December. A crowd gathered near the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station, where the tragedy occurred. A memorial at First Baptist Church in Sheepshead Bay was about dignity and respect for Kawam. Community leaders talked about how the city failed the 57-year-old New Jersey native in life and in death.
\ 'It's still a chilling moment, a frightening moment, panic moment, traumatizing moment. We're praying for her soul to rest in peace. We're praying that some justice will be done,' Bishop Boyde Singletary said. Through songs and prayer, lawmakers and leaders from several different faiths said Kawam's family knew her as 'Debbie,' and that at Passaic Valley Regional High School in Little Falls, New Jersey, she was a student and bubbly cheerleader who helped classmates, and as a woman loved travel.\ 'She looked very outgoing. She looked very lovely. She was young, and she had everything ahead of her,' Gravesend resident Angelo Canital said. 'I can't imagine someone ending up like she did, homeless with a walker on a subway. You can't imagine, but it can happen to people quite easily sometimes. That's the sad part about it.' Clergy in Brooklyn will start patrolling the subway with the Guardian Angels.\Police say Kawam, who was homeless, had been riding the subway for shelter on Dec. 22, when 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta allegedly sprayed a liquid on her and then used a lighter to ignite the flames. Police say he then sat on a platform bench and watched her burn to death. Zapeta is due back in court in March on charges of murder and arson. He faces the possibility of life in prison. Prosecutors say he told police he had been drinking that day and didn't remember what happened
SUBWAY FIRE HOMELESSNESS VIGIL JUSTICE BROOKLYN
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