After an outpouring of support following her attack on a CTA Blue Line train, the family of Bethany MaGee has established a GoFundMe campaign to help offset costs as she continues her recovery.
MaGee, 26, was set on fire as she rode the CTA Blue Line through the Loop last week in a jarring attack allegedly carried out by a career criminal with dozens of prior arrests and a questionable mental health history.
“Many of her immediate medical expenses are covered by insurance and a victims fund, but with such a long road ahead of her, the freedom from financial worries would be a tremendous blessing,” MaGee’s family said in a GoFundMe campaign launched Tuesday. “No gifts are expected, but any that are given will go directly to Bethany.”
Within hours of its opening, the campaign received nearly $10,000 in donations.
The family also continued to ask for privacy.
“Our priority at this time is making sure that we love Bethany well and give her the support she needs,” the statement on the web page said.
“What we can say, is this: Bethany is a beloved daughter, sister, sister-in-law, granddaughter, and aunt. She is a good friend. She is sensitive, caring, intelligent, and imaginative. She loves living in Chicago, and her gentle spirit makes her a favorite with every pet she meets,” the statement reads. “She enjoys playing tabletop and video games with her community, and she is quick to include others in conversations and make them feel welcome. She is kind.”
The family planned to spend Thanksgiving at her side.
On Nov. 17, MaGee was on a Blue Line train when another passenger approached, poured a liquid on her and set her on fire, authorities previously said. Chicago police officers arrested the suspect, Lawrence Reed, less than a day later in the Loop. Federal prosecutors soon charged Reed with terrorism.
The complaint alleges that Reed filled a bottle with gasoline at a Garfield Park gas station about 30 minutes before the attack took place, getting on the Blue Line at the Kedzie stop before he allegedly approached the woman on the train.
Chicago police arrested Reed the next morning as he was walking west on Washington Boulevard, per the complaint. According to his CPD arrest report, officers were looking for Reed in connection with the alleged Blue Line attack, but later linked him to another fire set at City Hall and alleged that he’d thrown bricks through the window of a group home in the East Side neighborhood Nov. 17.
Per the complaint, Reed yelled “burn alive, (expletive)” while officers were taking him to the Harrison (11th) District police station for questioning.
Mayor Brandon Johnson initially declared the attack an “isolated incident” before describing it as an “absolute failure” of the criminal justice system and mental health institutions. Court records show that Reed’s mental health has been a factor in several of his 72 preceding arrests and U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura McNally ordered a mental and physical health evaluation for him as he awaits trial.
The case has become a political football at times in the days since the attack. On Tuesday as he prepared to embark on the ceremonial pardoning of two turkeys for Thanksgiving, President Donald Trump delivered a rambling defense of his administration while using national publicity over the Blue Line incident to further his contention that crime in Chicago is “out of control” and restate his belief that militarized intervention is needed.
“The woman with the burning. They burned the woman. They’ll be talking about that now. They burned this beautiful woman riding in a train. A man was arrested 72 times. Seventy-two times. Think of that and they’ll let him out again,” Trump said, though the alleged assailant is being held on federal terrorism charges.
A Cook County pretrial monitoring report filed Thursday stated that Reed had violated the terms of his release five times between Nov. 9 and the day of the alleged attack. The crime occurred on a Monday, which was not on a list of days Reed was given more freedom of movement by the court.
In a note sent to her staff on Tuesday, State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke called the attack on the Blue Line “one of those moments that makes you stop short and question everything” and reminded line prosecutors about the office’s policies around electronic monitoring and pretrial detention.
The email obtained by the Tribune, with the subject line “IMPORTANT: EM Protocol,” included a link to a policy update dated Monday that directs assistant state’s attorneys to ask the court to order the Adult Probation Department to bring defendants to court when there are multiple or serious violations of electronic monitoring orders and notify law enforcement if an individual absconds from monitoring.
Earlier this year, prosecutors were also directed to object on the record when judges order electronic monitoring after denying a petition for detention. In the note, Burke said that the prosecutor assigned to Reed’s prior Cook County case in which he was ordered to electronic monitoring executed the office’s policies “flawlessly.”
“ASA (Jerrilyn) Gumila not only established that the individual was a clear danger to the community but when the judge denied the petition to detain, she took the mandatory objection language and added a line by line summation of why he did present a danger,” the note said.
