A 50-year-old man, facing federal terrorism charges for allegedly setting a woman on fire on a Chicago train, had a history of violating court-imposed restrictions, according to court records.
Lawrence Reed was placed under electronic monitoring on August 22 after Cook County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez rejected a prosecution’s request to hold him in jail. The request followed felony charges related to an incident where Reed allegedly assaulted a social worker at MacNeal Hospital’s psychiatric ward.
During the court proceedings, Molina-Gonzalez remarked to the prosecutors, “I can’t keep everybody in jail because the State’s Attorney wants me to,” according to the hearing transcripts.
Newly filed documents related to the battery case reveal that Reed frequently breached his curfew and movement restrictions, as shown by Cook County electronic monitoring records, just days before the alleged attack on a Chicago Transit Authority train on November 17.
Officials have charged Lawrence Reed with a terrorist attack or violence against a mass transportation system.
The monitoring logs illustrate several instances where Reed left his residence without permission while wearing his ankle monitor, returned home late, or set off “escalated alerts” indicative of serious non-compliance.
The violations span several dates, including Nov. 9, Nov. 12–13, Nov. 14–15, and Nov. 15 again, with additional alerts on the night of Nov. 17 — the date of the alleged CTA attack.
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)
Reed was riding on the city’s 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.
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.
Records show some alerts continued into the early morning hours of Nov. 18, roughly three hours after the incident occurred.
Reed’s 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.
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.
The victim, later identified as 26-year-old Bethany MaGee, suffered severe burns to her face and body and remains in critical condition, according to authorities.
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)
In April, after the Chief Judge’s Office took over the countywide electronic monitoring program, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke reportedly warned staff in a memo that the office was not prepared for the responsibility and described the program as “a serious threat to public safety.”
A spokesperson for the Cook County chief judge’s office declined to comment to Fox News on the monitoring violations by Reed.
In a separate filing late last week that Fox News also obtained, Cook County prosecutors moved to revoke Reed’s 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.
Reed’s next court date in the Cook County aggravated battery case is set for Dec. 4.
In federal court, U.S. District Judge Laura McNally — who on Friday ordered Reed detained pretrial — has not yet set a next date in the terrorism case.
