A man accused of setting a woman on fire inside a Chicago commuter train has a decades long criminal history and was on court-ordered electronic monitoring in an unrelated battery case at the time of the unprovoked attack, prosecutors said Friday.
The detail revealed in Friday’s hearing confirmed a variety of court and law enforcement records dating back more than 30 years that detail 50-year-old Lawrence Reed’s frequent contact with police in and around Chicago. A judge agreed Friday to keep Reed in jail pending trial on a federal terrorism charge he faces in the train attack.
The attack Monday night on Chicago's Blue Line L train has garnered national attention and drawn comparisons to the apparent random attack in August that saw another woman stabbed to death on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina. In the Chicago attack, investigators say the victim was sitting on the train scrolling through her phone when she was approached from behind by Reed, doused with gasoline and set ablaze seconds later.
Police arrested Reed the next morning, and federal prosecutors charged him with one count of committing a terrorist attack, which carries up to a life sentence. The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois has said if the victim dies from her injuries, Reed could face the death penalty.
Reed has spent 32 years in and out of the criminal justice system, starting when he was about 18 years old, and has been arrested 72 times, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Bond said Friday during the detention hearing for Reed. His record includes eight felony and seven misdemeanor convictions.
Bond called Reed a “clear danger to the community” and said his criminal offenses have grown more serious over time.
“He has been given chance after chance after chance,” Bond said, arguing that Reed is “too dangerous for release.”
Information provided to the AP by the Cook County Circuit Court shows more than 60 criminal cases filed against Reed since 1993, ranging from traffic, trespassing and drug possession offenses to more serious charges involving violent behavior — including at least 15 battery and assault cases. At least two cases accused him of arson.
At the time of Monday's attack, Reed was on electronic monitoring in an active charge of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm after authorities say he hit a hospital social worker in the face in August, causing a concussion and optic nerve bruising. Reed's next court date for that case has been set for Dec. 4. A public defender representing Reed in that case did not immediately return a message Friday seeking comment.
The Cook County chief judge’s office declined to comment on the court's decision in that case to release Reed on electronic monitoring, but did point to state law that limits strictly limits judges from denying defendants release ahead of their trials.
Reed currently has no attorney representing him in the federal case. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura McNally offered Reed legal counsel during Friday's detention hearing, noting that a public defender was present and able to jump in at any point. Reed insisted, "“I’m representing myself.”
Reed also agreed to being detained pending trial, saying he doesn’t “feel safe in society.”
“I’m a target from society,” he said. “I don’t feel safe out there. I think for my safety, it’s best for me to be detained.”
He repeatedly asked the judge if he would be given three meals a day while detained and begged her to “make sure I eat.”
Investigators have relied heavily on surveillance cameras to build their case, noting that cameras inside the train captured the attack on the woman and those on the train platform showed him walking away at a downtown stop. Cameras at a nearby gas station showed Reed filling a small container with gasoline just 30 minutes before the attack, a federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire and Explosives agent said in an affidavit.
The affidavit said Reed attempted to ignite the 26-year-old woman after he doused her with the gas, but she fought him off and ran from one end of the car to the other, with Reed chasing her before he managed to ignite the bottle he’d used to carry the gasoline and used it to set the woman on fire.
Officials have not released the victim’s name, and her family issued as statement Thursday night asking for privacy “as we focus our attention on her and her recovery.”
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Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska.