UPDATE: Chicago is burning because Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez ignored SEVERAL warnings and let a man with 50 arrests walk free.
Prosecutors literally told her he was violent and would strike again.
She waved it off and said, “I can’t keep everybody in jail because the state’s… pic.twitter.com/m3YD7bnO30— Tony Lane 🇺🇸 (@TonyLaneNV) November 21, 2025
An Illinois judge ignored a prosecutor’s warnings that a man who is now accused of setting a commuter on fire was likely to attack again and allowed him to walk free, court records show.
Lawrence Reed, 50, was released on an ankle monitor after assaulting a social worker in August, CBS News reported.
Despite the prosecutor warning Cook County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez that Reed had a lengthy rap sheet and his next crime would ‘likely be violent,’ she allowed him to walk free.
Reed went on to be hit with a federal terrorism charge this week after he allegedly poured gasoline on a 26-year-old woman at random and set her ablaze on the Chicago transit system Monday night.
He approached the victim, who has not been identified, and repeatedly yelled ‘burn alive b***h,’ according to a criminal affidavit filed in federal court.
Investigators obtained additional security footage of Reed allegedly filling a container with gasoline at a gas station 20 minutes before the attack.
According to transcripts obtained by CWB Chicago, as Molina-Gonzalez released Reed in August, she said: ‘I can’t keep everybody in jail because the state’s attorney wants me to.’
Monday’s attack has drawn comparisons to the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 22.