Federal prosecutors have charged a Chicago man with a terrorism offense after he set a 26-year-old woman on fire inside a Blue Line train on Monday night. The victim remains hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns to the head and body.

According to an arrest affidavit from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Lawrence Reed, 50, was sitting at the back of the train when he removed the cap from a plastic bottle, poured what appeared to be gasoline on the woman, ignited the container, and set her on fire. Security footage shows Reed purchasing gasoline about 30 minutes before the attack.

Reed fled as the train stopped downtown. The victim staggered out of the car before collapsing on the platform. Chicago police arrested Reed on Tuesday morning; officials say he made incriminating statements and wore the same clothes seen on video. In his initial federal hearing, Reed caused a disturbance, yelling that he wanted to represent himself and claiming to be a Chinese citizen. He repeatedly shouted “I plead guilty!” while the judge attempted to inform him of his rights.

The federal charge carries a potential life sentence.

The case revived comparisons to an August incident in Charlotte, North Carolina, where federal authorities charged a man with fatally stabbing 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in another apparent random attack on public transit.

Chicago’s transit authority says it is cooperating fully with investigators and relies on a “multilayered” security approach, including surveillance systems.

But the political consequences are larger and harder to ignore. Violent episodes on transit systems in Democratic-led cities have become a point of attack for former president Donald Trump and members of his administration. After Monday’s attack, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy amplified the criticism, arguing that cities must “take safety seriously” to prevent another tragedy like Zarutska’s killing.

Chicago police declined to say whether state charges will accompany the federal case.

This is not an isolated crime. It is another data point in a long slide: permissive judicial policies, serial offenders repeatedly released, and transit systems unable to guarantee basic safety. The pattern is political, and time is running out for denial.