Lawrence Reed has been charged with terrorism after pouring gasoline on 26-year-old Bethany MaGee, then setting her on fire on a Chicago subway train. The woman sustained severe burns to over half of her body and is currently being treated in the hospital for what is bound to be a long recovery.
Reed has been arrested 72 times since the 1990s, according to court records. He was freed on an ankle monitor after assaulting a social worker in August. The prosecutor warned Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez that Reed had a long record and his next crime would likely be violent. She responded, “I can’t keep everybody in jail because the state’s attorney wants me.”
Reed is now charged with federal terrorism after pouring gasoline on a 26-year-old woman and setting her on fire on a Chicago transit train. He walked up to her at random and yelled “burn alive bh.” The judge who released him has been named, as have the prosecutor’s warnings about his criminal history and mental illness.
Reed faced an aggravated battery charge in Cook County criminal court after an Aug. 19 attack at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn. He is accused of attacking a social worker while a psychiatric patient there. A judge in that case freed Reed on electronic monitoring while he awaits trial. Court records show he has a history of mental illness and dozens of past arrests. His lawyer stated he suffers from schizophrenia and depression for 26 years and is the father of three grown children.
Reed repeatedly violated his curfew before the horrific attack, which was part of the terms of his release while pending trial for charges related to assaulting a social worker. A federal magistrate judge ordered Reed held in custody. Reed agreed, asking the judge repeatedly to “just make sure I eat.” The prosecutor called the Blue Line crime “barbaric,” noting the woman burned for a full minute and that Reed had been arrested 72 times in 32 years.
Reed was assigned to stay in at least two shelters, with one shelter on South Princeton Avenue. He stayed there “for less than a month” and it was “a couple of months ago.” He came from Hartgrove Hospital, a mental health clinic on the West Side. On Sept. 30, he was then assigned to stay at a second shelter, in the 10000 block of South Avenue N. It’s unclear whether he stayed there or was assigned elsewhere.
Reed’s repeated curfew violations occurred Nov. 9, Nov. 12, Nov. 14, Nov. 15, and at 9:13 a.m. Monday — the day of the CTA attack. Two “escalated alerts” were issued because of his curfew violation Monday — at 12:13 p.m. and 12 hours later. This man is clearly deranged and needs to be locked up, far away from society. Once again, the judicial system has failed a young, innocent woman whose life has now been irrevocably changed due to some activist judge refusing to put insane criminals behind bars. The judge who let him out — and so many others who have the same attitude towards criminal justice — need to be held accountable.