Federal prosecutors charge man with setting a woman on fire on a Chicago train

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged a man with setting a woman on fire on a Chicago train, calling it a terrorist attack.

The attack happened Monday night on a Blue Line L train, police said.

A federal investigator's affidavit filed in the arrest of Lawrence Reed says he was sitting at the back of a train car when he approached the woman as she sat with her back to him. He took the cap of a plastic beverage bottled, then doused the woman with what was believed to be gasoline, the affidavit said.

The woman then ran to the back of the train car. Reed ignited the bottle, approached the woman and set her on fire, according to the affidavit.

Reed, 50, of Chicago, is charged with a federal count of committing a terrorist attack or other violence against a mass transportation system.