{"id":401935,"date":"2025-11-24T19:22:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/401935\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T19:22:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:22:19","slug":"chicago-train-fire-suspect-violated-electronic-monitoring-before-alleged-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/401935\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago train fire suspect violated electronic monitoring before alleged attack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The 50-year-old man facing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/terror\/counter-terrorism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">federal terrorism charges<\/a> for allegedly setting a woman on fire aboard a Chicago train last week had repeatedly violated his court-ordered curfew and movement restrictions stemming from a prior violent offense case, court records show.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Lawrence Reed had been ordered onto electronic monitoring on Aug. 22, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/midwest\/illinois\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Cook County<\/a> Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez denied a prosecution request to keep him jailed on felony allegations that he knocked a social worker unconscious while at MacNeal Hospital\u2019s psychiatric ward.<\/p>\n<p>During that hearing, transcripts show Molina-Gonzalez told prosecutors: &#8220;I can\u2019t keep everybody in jail because the State\u2019s Attorney wants me to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to the newly filed document in that battery case, Cook County electronic monitoring records show Reed repeatedly violated his curfew and movement restrictions in the days leading up to the alleged Chicago Transit Authority attack on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/blue-city-suspect-numerous-prior-arrests-federally-charged-after-allegedly-setting-woman-ablaze-train\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>BLUE CITY SUSPECT WITH NUMEROUS PRIOR ARRESTS FEDERALLY CHARGED AFTER ALLEGEDLY SETTING WOMAN ABLAZE ON TRAIN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/lawrence-reed-train-attack.png\" alt=\"Lawrence Reed mug shot\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Lawrence Reed, 50, is charged with committing a terrorist attack or violence against a mass transportation system, according to officials. (Chicago Police Department)<\/p>\n<p>The logs detail multiple instances where Reed left his home with his ankle monitor without authorization, returned late, or triggered &#8220;escalated alerts&#8221; indicating prolonged or serious non-compliance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The violations span several dates, including Nov. 9, Nov. 12\u201313, Nov. 14\u201315, and Nov. 15 again, with additional alerts on the night of Nov. 17 \u2014 the date of the alleged CTA attack.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764012139_752_reed-chicago-train-attack.png\" alt=\"Train footage shows the suspect allegedly coming up behind the woman and pouring the liquid on her head and body.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Train footage shows Reed allegedly coming up behind a woman and pouring the liquid on her head and body before lighting her on fire while aboard a Chicago L train on Nov. 17, 2025. (U.S. District Court documents)<\/p>\n<p>Reed was riding on the city\u2019s Blue Line L train at around 9 p.m. Nov. 17 when he approached a 26-year-old woman from behind and doused her with gasoline from a plastic bottle, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/duffy-identifies-chicago-train-victim-26-year-old-bethany-magee-while-blasting-citys-carelessness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>DUFFY IDENTIFIES CHICAGO TRAIN VICTIM AS 26-YEAR-OLD BETHANY MAGEE WHILE BLASTING CITY&#8217;S &#8216;CARELESSNESS&#8217;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The woman managed to fight Reed off as he attempted to ignite the gas, then ran from one end of the car to the other while Reed continued to chase her, the affidavit said, citing surveillance video from the train. Reed subsequently ignited the bottle, approached the victim and used it to set her on fire, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>Records show some alerts continued into the early morning hours of Nov. 18, roughly three hours after the incident occurred.<\/p>\n<p>Reed\u2019s approved movement schedule under electronic monitoring allowed him to be out only during limited windows: Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/chicago-train-attack-suspect-ordered-judge-remain-custody-ahead-trial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>CHICAGO TRAIN ATTACK SUSPECT ORDERED BY JUDGE TO REMAIN IN CUSTODY AHEAD OF TRIAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Reed was taken into custody Tuesday morning with burn marks on his hand and wearing the same clothes as the suspect seen in surveillance footage carrying out the attack, the arrest affidavit said.<\/p>\n<p>The victim, later identified as 26-year-old Bethany MaGee, suffered severe burns to her face and body and\u00a0remains in critical condition,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/crime\/police-and-law-enforcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to authorities<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/career-criminal-sets-woman-on-fire-chicago-train-001.jpg\" alt=\"Bethany MaGee holding a cat\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Bethany MaGee, who was critically injured in a Nov. 17, 2025, attack aboard a Chicago L train, holds a cat in an undated photo. (Bethany MaGee via Facebook)<\/p>\n<p>In April, after the Chief Judge\u2019s Office took over the countywide electronic monitoring program, Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Eileen O\u2019Neill Burke reportedly warned staff in a memo that the office was not prepared for the responsibility and described the program as &#8220;a serious threat to public safety.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/chicago-train-fire-attack-shows-why-decarceration-policies-putting-lives-risk-expert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>CHICAGO TRAIN FIRE ATTACK SHOWS WHY \u2018DECARCERATION\u2019 POLICIES ARE PUTTING LIVES AT RISK: EXPERT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the Cook County chief judge&#8217;s office declined to comment to Fox News on the monitoring violations by Reed.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate filing late last week that Fox News also obtained, Cook County prosecutors moved to revoke Reed\u2019s pretrial release in the August aggravated battery case based on the new federal terrorism charge. If their request is granted, Reed would be held without bond in the county case, regardless of the status of the federal proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>Reed\u2019s next court date in the Cook County aggravated battery case is set for Dec. 4.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/judiciary\/federal-courts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">federal court<\/a>, U.S. District Judge Laura McNally \u2014 who on Friday ordered Reed detained pretrial \u2014 has not yet set a next date in the terrorism case.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital\u2019s Greg Wehner and Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The 50-year-old man facing federal terrorism charges for allegedly setting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":401936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,4219,5386,1818,76332,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-401935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-police-and-law-enforcement","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115606307732782363","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}