NC - Iryna Zarutska, 23, slain on Commuter Rail Line, Charlotte - Some Content may be Graphic - Aug 22, 2025 *Arrest*

[I am not Sherlock H.]

WBTV3 online September 5, 2025 article by Cassidy Johncox of a disturbing attack and slaying of a young unsuspecting rail commuter near Charlotte, NC. Article entitled “Light rail stabbing: Graphic video shows moments before, after woman killed in Charlotte”.

Warning: Video is graphic. Please proceed with caution

Note some information and video may be graphic.

The incident apparently happened on August 22, 2025.

Suspect Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, is in custody and has been charged with first-degree murder.

MOO

Light rail stabbing: Graphic video shows moments before, after woman killed in Charlotte

Warning: Video is graphic. Please proceed with caution.

www.wbtv.com

 

[Ontario Mom]

Thank you for starting this thread. I've found it rather astounding the lack of MSM coverage for this poor Ukrainian woman Iryna Zarutska. Imagine, fleeing Ukraine to get away from the war and coming to the US to be brutally murdered.

Her obituary is here: https://www.jamesfuneralhomelkn.com/obituaries/iryna-zarutska/obituary

​

 

[arielilane]

Thank you both, @I am not Sherlock H. and @Ontario Mom. Glad to see a thread for Iryna Zarutska. Have anticipated opening one myself, but Ive not been on much.

Not much media is speaking about this senseless murder of a young defenseless woman. Iryna Zarutska should be here. Her life mattered.

 

[arielilane]

In 2023, Iryna Zarutska had come to the U.S. from Ukraine, for a better life, for safety and in hopes of a new beginning.

Enter: Madman - Several prior arrests - He has a very lengthy criminal history. So who are these judges, and why did these judges cut him a break? The day of the murder, why was he allowed on the train without a paid ticket?

On 8/22/2025, Iryna Zarutska, age 23, shortly before 10 pm ET, as surveillance footage shows, was at the E/W Blvd light rail station in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood and boarded the train.

Iryna Zarutska sat down in front of alleged suspect, minding her own business the entire time.

Suspect pulls a pocket knife from his hoodie and flips it open. Iryna is unsuspecting of the assailant and what is about to happen. Suspect stabs Iryna in the neck, and she collapses within seconds of the senseless brutal attack/murder.

The suspect exits the train, and is arrested and taken to Atrium Health for treatment. Later, upon release from the hospital, he is charged with first-degree murder.

<modsnip> Decarlos Brown Jr, allegedly ambushed Iryna Zarutska for no reason.

moo

Video shows moments before deadly stabbing on Charlotte blue line

Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, was killed last month while riding the city's light rail.

www.newsweek.com

 

[Inthedetails]

Thank you both, @I am not Sherlock H. and @Ontario Mom. Glad to see a thread for Iryna Zarutska. Have anticipated opening one myself, but Ive not been on much.

Not much media is speaking about this senseless murder of a young defenseless woman. Iryna Zarutska should be here. Her life mattered.

Senseless is absolutely the right word. It's shocking how senseless this attack was.

jmopinion

 

[Ontario Mom]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

Horror video of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska’s slaughter on Charlotte train is met with deafening silence from Dem leaders, media

Charlotte’s mayor even thanked publications that chose to keep the video from the public.

nypost.com

 

[Panniniclaus]

Looks like that guy was determined to do harm to somebody that day.. wrong place/wrong time.

 

[Scatcat]

A disgusting beast

 

[katydid23]

There were a few social media platforms trying to fundraise for the killer, because he was apparently a 'victim' because he never received proper mental health treatment from the state.

I haven't seen any fundraisers for Iryna's family yet.

The killer has been arrested and released a dozen times.

Accused Charlotte light rail killer to remain in jail, undergo competency evaluation, judge orders

Woman who recently fled from Ukraine killed in stabbing on Aug. 22, 2025

www.wbtv.com

Jail records show it includes past convictions for armed robbery, felony larceny, breaking and entering, and shoplifting.

 

[katydid23]

The suspects mother made a statement:

Charlotte’s Ukrainian community calls for safety after woman killed on light rail

“Young lady came here to start a new life in a peaceful country that is not threatened by drones every day but she dies of a knife on a public system."

www.wsoctv.com

Mother says system failed son before deadly stabbing​

Brown will be charged with first-degree murder when he is released from the hospital, police said.

The suspect’s mother, who didn’t want to be identified, said he has had mental issues for years.

She believes what happened Friday night was a failure in the system and the killing could have been prevented.


“My heart goes out to the victim’s family. What he did was atrocious. It was horrible. It was wrong,” she said over the phone.

Brown spent more than five years in prison for robbery with a deadly weapon.

His mother said she got Brown evaluated, but his behavior became more aggressive.

So, she got an involuntary commitment order from the courts.


Police charged him with misusing the 911 system.

Magistrate Teresa Stokes allowed him to be released from jail without paying anything on a written promise to appear.

However, there were concerns about his mental capacity.

In July, his public defender made a motion questioning his ability to proceed in his court case. Judge Roy Wiggins ordered a forensic evaluation, but Brown was allowed to be out on the streets.

Brown’s mother said the court should have never let her son be out in the community, especially knowing his previous arrests and mental health issues.

 

[katydid23]

Charlotte mayor criticized for response to stabbing of Ukrainian woman

Vi Lyles was the subject of an angry response after her comments about the mental health of the suspect

www.newsweek.com

Charlotte's Mayor Lyles said Brown Jr., who has been arrested and faces a murder charge, had long struggled with mental health issues and looked likely to have "suffered a crisis."

Her comments that mental health problems must be "treated with the same compassion, diligence and commitment as cancer or heart disease" angered social media users who said this diminished the suspect's accountability.

Court records show Brown had been arrested several times, including for robbery with a dangerous weapon, larceny and communicating threats. He served five years in prison for the armed robbery charge, according to WSOC-TV.

...snipped....

While she did not divulge the details of his medical history, Lyles said the suspect had suffered a long history of mental health illness and that the tragic incident "should force us to look at what we are doing across our community to address root causes."

She said, "we will never arrest our way out [of] issues such homelessness and mental health" and that we should not be "villainizing those who struggle with their mental health or those who are unhoused."

 

[Poedelini]

It's crazy we didn't hear about it on the day it happened. Such a senseless brutal murder.

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

CNN online has today a September 8, 2025 article by Holly Yan and Mia Blackman entitled “Video shows fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee on Charlotte light rail – stirring debate on crime in major US cities”:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/08/us/iryna-zarutska-murder-ukraine-refugee

Such a senseless slaying IMO.

Note some content, images, and the video are reported as quite graphic. MOO

 

[Ontario Mom]

GoFundMe has yanked sickening online fundraisers for the maniac accused of murdering a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina train after the legal defense funds sparked widespread outrage. The fundraising pages suggested Decarlos Brown Jr. — a career criminal with no fewer than 14 arrests — is just as much a victim as Iryna Zarutska, the woman seen being knifed dozens of times in a random attack.

GoFundMe pulls horrific fundraisers for ex-con accused of murdering Ukrainian refugee on train

The calls for cash sparked immediate fury after horrific surveillance video showed a killer pulling out a pocket knife and savagely attacking the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on Aug. 22.

nypost.com

 

[shotgun09]

Charlotte mayor criticized for response to stabbing of Ukrainian woman

Vi Lyles was the subject of an angry response after her comments about the mental health of the suspect

www.newsweek.com

Charlotte's Mayor Lyles said Brown Jr., who has been arrested and faces a murder charge, had long struggled with mental health issues and looked likely to have "suffered a crisis."

Her comments that mental health problems must be "treated with the same compassion, diligence and commitment as cancer or heart disease" angered social media users who said this diminished the suspect's accountability.

Court records show Brown had been arrested several times, including for robbery with a dangerous weapon, larceny and communicating threats. He served five years in prison for the armed robbery charge, according to WSOC-TV.

...snipped....

While she did not divulge the details of his medical history, Lyles said the suspect had suffered a long history of mental health illness and that the tragic incident "should force us to look at what we are doing across our community to address root causes."

She said, "we will never arrest our way out [of] issues such homelessness and mental health" and that we should not be "villainizing those who struggle with their mental health or those who are unhoused."

The 'tone-deafness' of this mayor is appalling, IMO. If I, or any other citizen in this country, wants to have the opinion that this sick, twisted monster who violently stabbed an innocent woman....(THE VICTIM) on a train IS a villain, I should not be scolded. The perp is a villain, as clearly seen in the camera footage, regardless of her views and sympathies. MOO

 

[Ontario Mom]

The 'tone-deafness' of this mayor is appalling, IMO. If I, or any other citizen in this country, wants to have the opinion that this sick, twisted monster who violently stabbed an innocent woman....(THE VICTIM) on a train IS a villain, I should not be scolded. The perp is a villain, as clearly seen in the camera footage, regardless of her views and sympathies. MOO

Absolutely infuriating. We (society) should be absolutely unwilling to tolerate & sugar coat this insanity. These monsters need to stay locked up.

 

[Inthedetails]

Looks like that guy was determined to do harm to somebody that day.. wrong place/wrong time.

Public places like transit are used by the unhinged as places to be. It's an understatement to say that reality is unacceptable and the public should not be in position of encountering mentally-ill people who are violent and have a known violent history. I'm NOT DEFENDING this heinous perp at all, but we have to face that we do not have services in place to address the nation's mental-health issues.

Takes committment and money (and compassion) to address the issue so I guess we'll await the next attack. In the meantime, we can be shocked, disgusted, and scared in reaction to this horrendous crime.

I ride public transit regularly. I've seen unhinged people first hand - you never know when it can happen. I am not currently afraid to ride the subway, but I also am not in denial that unhinged people also ride.

jmopinion

 

[adot0902]

The 'tone-deafness' of this mayor is appalling, IMO. If I, or any other citizen in this country, wants to have the opinion that this sick, twisted monster who violently stabbed an innocent woman....(THE VICTIM) on a train IS a villain, I should not be scolded. The perp is a villain, as clearly seen in the camera footage, regardless of her views and sympathies. MOO

We just had a situation where a lady rammed her car into a child and a lady in a wheel chair, and they amount of people who see her as a victim makes me want to rip my hair out. I am so tired of people (especially politicians) trying to make the perps look like the victim. It's 2025 we have more access to mental health than ever before. Shoot I get mine on the internet for a very low price, there are options out there!

The mother should be ashamed, the mayor should be ashamed, anyone who tries to make this idiot a victim should be ashamed.

 

[Sundog]

Thank you for starting this thread. I've at found it rather astounding the lack of MSM coverage for this poor Ukrainian woman Iryna Zarutska. Imagine, fleeing Ukraine to get away from the war and coming to the US to be brutally murdered.

Her obituary is here: https://www.jamesfuneralhomelkn.com/obituaries/iryna-zarutska/obituary

​

What an incredibly talented and kind and lovely person, brutally stabbed to death.

 

[caradana]

This scenario got more frequent and more terrifying in the NYC subway system following COVID (where most shelters, which basically act as mental health management centers, never reopened, so the subways became the new shelters except minus all controls and supports) … Daniel Penny case then drew major attention to it … and the mayor of NYC put involuntary commitment back in place. It’s dramatically better now than it was in 2021-2024. Still going to be the occasional case - can’t stop everyone - but involuntary commitment is a strong tool and I think the populace of North Carolina is pretty well inclined to prioritize community safety over civil rights debates.

ETA, good read, from the NYC government: Mayor Adams Announces Progress in Supporting Individuals With Severe Mental Illness, Releases City’s First-Ever Involuntary Transports Dashboard Providing New Yorkers With Unprecedented Accounting of Program
Check out the dashboard, the data is incredible - NYC police are now doing something like 20 involuntary commitment transports a day.