A 24-year-old man released on parole in February has been charged with six counts of second-degree manslaughter and one count of arson after a fire at a New York hotel used to house homeless people killed six and displaced dozens, according to New York State Police. Tyler Russell was arrested on Monday following the blaze at the Knights Inn in Endwell, Broome County, where first responders found the building fully engulfed. The American Red Cross assisted displaced guests, and a temporary shelter was established at a local church. Authorities have not announced a possible motive, and the investigation remains ongoing.

Separately, a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced 19-year-old Hiram Carrero to five and a half years in prison for setting a sleeping homeless man on fire aboard a subway train in December 2025. Prosecutors argued that Carrero’s actions left the victim with permanent scarring and disfigurement and that the crime was “separated from murder by mere chance.” Carrero’s defence attorney cited his client’s troubled background, including prenatal drug exposure and abandonment at birth, as mitigating factors. The sentence exceeded the mandatory minimum for arson but fell short of the eight-year term requested by federal prosecutors.

In the Moscow region, Russian investigators announced the detention of a 15-year-old schoolboy on terrorism charges for setting fire to a transformer substation on railway tracks near the Michurinets stop of the Kiev direction. According to the Russian Interior Ministry, the teenager was contacted through a dating service in an internet messenger by a woman who persuaded him to share his geolocation; he then received a call from a person posing as a law enforcement officer who threatened him with criminal liability for aiding a terrorist act and coerced him into carrying out the arson to avoid prosecution. The Investigative Committee stated that the boy has been charged under Article 205 of the Criminal Code (terrorist act) and placed under an unspecified measure of restraint.

The New York cases form part of a series of high-profile attacks on homeless people on the city’s transit system. In December 2024, a woman sleeping on a Brooklyn subway train was fatally set on fire; a previously deported migrant from Guatemala remains in custody awaiting trial for her murder. Viewed from Washington, federal prosecutors have emphasised the vulnerability of victims and the severity of such crimes, while defence attorneys have pointed to the accused’s personal histories. In Russia, according to the Investigative Committee, the railway arson case reflects a reported pattern of minors being manipulated through online platforms into committing acts of sabotage under false pretences.

Russell was booked into the Broome County Jail pending arraignment, and the Broome County Department of Social Services confirmed the Knights Inn was one of several local hotels used to shelter homeless people. Carrero has begun serving his sentence and was also ordered to pay restitution and serve three years of supervised release. The Russian teenager’s case remains under investigation, with no further details on the alleged handlers disclosed by authorities.