The murder of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte, North Carolina, light-rail train has sparked outrage, both over the brutality of the attack and over how it was allowed to happen, as well as the lack of media curiosity.
On August 22, Zarutska boarded the Lynx Blue Line after a day of work. Within minutes, she was attacked by 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., a man with a lengthy criminal record who, despite multiple convictions and arrests, was free to roam the city. Surveillance video shows Brown pull a knife and slash Zarutska in the neck and chest as she sat quietly in her seat. She died moments later.
Long Criminal Record
Court records show Brown had been arrested at least 14 times, with charges ranging from armed robbery and felony larceny to breaking and entering and assault. In one case, he was accused of misusing the 911 system with bizarre calls claiming he was under the control of a “man-made substance.”
In January 2025, just eight months before Zarutska’s murder, Brown was released without bond by a Mecklenburg County judge. It’s quite clear that his release directly set the stage for the tragedy.
“This man had no business being on the streets,” said former Mecklenburg County prosecutor Mark Edwards. “Any reasonable review of his record shows he posed a clear danger to the public. Letting him out without bond was a catastrophic failure.”
Silence From Charlotte’s Dem Mayor
Charlotte’s Democratic mayor, Vi Lyles, called Zarutska’s death a “senseless and tragic loss” but stopped short of condemning the attacker or addressing the failures that allowed him back into the community. Instead, she urged residents and the media not to circulate the surveillance video.
Her response drew criticism since it’s clear that city leaders are more concerned with optics than safety. “You can’t talk about this as just some random tragedy,” said City Council candidate Robert Ingram. “This is what happens when violent repeat offenders are cut loose in the name of so-called reform. A young woman is dead because the system looked the other way.”
The Double Standard
Despite the disturbing video and the clear breakdown in public safety, national media coverage has been sparse. Some have pointed to the racial dynamics, a Black suspect and a White Ukrainian refugee victim, as the reason.
“If the roles were reversed, this would be wall-to-wall coverage on CNN and MSNBC,” said Fox News host Will Cain. “But because it doesn’t fit the preferred narrative, the story is being buried.”
President Trump weighed in after the footage spread online, telling reporters, “I’ll know all about it by tomorrow morning.”
“This wasn’t random. It was preventable,” said Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC). “If local officials had done their job, Iryna Zarutska would still be alive today.”
The killing has shaken confidence in Charlotte’s transit system. City officials are scrambling to increase fare enforcement and put more officers on trains, but for many residents, the damage is already done.
Zarutska came to America seeking refuge from war. Instead, she was killed on a public train by a man who should have been behind bars. For critics, her death is the latest example of how lenient criminal justice policies in Democrat-run cities have left ordinary people, especially the most vulnerable, exposed to violence.