When 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska boarded the late-night Blue Line train at Scaleybark station near downtown Charlotte, she appeared like any other commuter. Wearing khaki trousers, a dark shirt and a pizzeria cap pulled low over her blonde hair, she found an empty seat, quietly scrolling through her phone, CNN reports.
Zarutska, who fled Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion, had no way of knowing that the man behind her, dressed in a red sweatshirt, would end her life only minutes later.
The Fatal Attack
Four minutes into the journey, passenger Decarlos Brown pulled what looked like a knife from his clothing. After briefly gazing out of the window, he suddenly leaned forward and slashed over the seat, fatally stabbing Zarutska in the face and throat. She collapsed to the floor as fellow travellers tried to save her.
Zarutska died from her wounds before the train stopped. Brown has since been charged with first-degree murder.
Political Fallout
The shocking footage of the killing and Brown’s long record of armed robbery, theft and breaking and entering quickly drew national attention. Former President Donald Trump seized on the case as an example of violent crime in Democrat-led cities, using it to justify calls for federal troop deployment in Los Angeles and Washington DC, while also threatening to send the National Guard to Chicago.
«North Carolina, and every State, needs LAW AND ORDER, and only Republicans will deliver it!» Trump posted on Truth Social, branding Brown a «career criminal.»
System Failures Raised
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and members of Brown’s family argued the tragedy reflected wider systemic failings. They pointed to a justice system that released Brown back into the community despite serious convictions and a history of mental illness, compounded by gaps in health care support.
A Life Cut Short
For Zarutska, the attack was a cruel twist of fate. Having left Ukraine in August 2022 to escape the war, she rebuilt her life in North Carolina with her mother, sister and brother. She studied at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and dreamed of becoming a veterinary assistant.
Her death has become a symbol of both America’s struggles with violent crime and the human cost of broken systems, leaving a family who had fled war mourning a daughter who had sought safety abroad.
Kursiv also reports that U.S. President Donald Trump has promised Zelenskiy to support Ukraine’s security in any eventual peace settlement with Russia.
