The Murder of Iryna Zarutska on the Lynx Blue Line
Iryna Zarutska, 23, was an immigrant from Ukraine. She came to America to escape the war in her native land. As she sat down on the Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte, North Carolina on August 22, the man sitting directly behind her pulled out a knife and murdered her in plain view of the public and the surveillance camera. No one lifted a finger to help her. The Charlotte Light Rail released the video, which immediately went viral. The suspect was identified as Decarlos Brown, Jr., 34.
Just four minutes later, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly whips out a folding knife and lunges forward, stabbing her three times, at least once in the neck, police said.
The chilling video then appears to show Brown then walking through the rail car, stripping off his sweatshirt and waiting by the doors — as passengers began to notice blood dripping from him.
Zarutska, who grabbed her neck as blood spilled onto the train floor, collapsed in her seat and was pronounced dead on the light rail, investigators said.
Police said Brown got off at the next stop, where a folding knife was later recovered near the platform. He was treated at a hospital for a cut on his hand before being taken into custody on a murder charge.
It took six minutes for police to respond. Transit security guards were on the train, but in the car ahead of Zarutska’s when she was attacked.
Court records show that Brown has a rap sheet as long as your arm. Fourteen arrests for everything from threats to robbery with a deadly weapon (for which he served time in prison) to theft. The latest arrest before the murder allowed him to walk free. Iryna Zarutska paid for that fiasco with her life. He has now been charged with First Degree Murder and hopefully isn’t going anywhere.
In a statement on the Charlotte light rail incident, Democrat Mayor Vi Lyles insists the city cannot “arrest our way out of issues” like this, failing to mention the victim, Iryna Zarutska, even once and showing more concern for the perpetrator’s homeless status.
Just four minutes later, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly whips out a folding knife and lunges forward, stabbing her three times, at least once in the neck, police said.
The chilling video then appears to show Brown then walking through the rail car, stripping off his sweatshirt and waiting by the doors — as passengers began to notice blood dripping from him.
Zarutska, who grabbed her neck as blood spilled onto the train floor, collapsed in her seat and was pronounced dead on the light rail, investigators said.
Police said Brown got off at the next stop, where a folding knife was later recovered near the platform. He was treated at a hospital for a cut on his hand before being taken into custody on a murder charge.
It took six minutes for police to respond. Transit security guards were on the train, but in the car ahead of Zarutska’s when she was attacked.
Court records show that Brown has a rap sheet as long as your arm. Fourteen arrests for everything from threats to robbery with a deadly weapon (for which he served time in prison) to theft. The latest arrest before the murder allowed him to walk free. Iryna Zarutska paid for that fiasco with her life. He has now been charged with First Degree Murder and hopefully isn’t going anywhere.
In a statement on the Charlotte light rail incident, Democrat Mayor Vi Lyles insists the city cannot “arrest our way out of issues” like this, failing to mention the victim, Iryna Zarutska, even once and showing more concern for the perpetrator’s homeless status.
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