NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: The following story contains details, descriptions, and/or images of violence that may be disturbing to some readers. Viewer discretion is advised.
A haunting new video shows the last moments of a Ukrainian refugee’s life before she was stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train last month.
The surveillance footage, released by the Carlotte Area Transit System (CATS), shows 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska boarding the Lynx Blue line just after 9:45 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 22.
The footage shows Zarutska in her pizzeria uniform while scrolling on her phone. A man in a red hoodie is seen sitting behind her. Around four minutes later, the man pulls out a knife and begins stabbing Zarutska three times, including at least once in the neck.
Zarutska, who had fled war-torn Ukraine, grabs her neck as blood spills onto the floor. Authorities later pronounced her dead at the scene. The video shows the suspect walk through the rail car, take off his sweatshirt and wait by the doors as passengers look on.
According to a police affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police responded to an emergency call from the Lynx Blue Line near 1821 Camden Road. Witnesses reported that a man had stabbed a woman in the throat inside a train car.
Officers arrived to find 34-year-old Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr. on the outbound platform, wearing clothing that matched the suspect’s description, court documents revealed. Authorities said he had a cut on his right hand and was taken into custody after receiving medical attention.
Officers recovered a folding knife near the outbound light rail platform, the affidavit said.
Boarding public transportation, authorities found Zarutska unresponsive and with a stab wound to the “middle of her throat.” Despite immediate medical attention, she was pronounced dead at 10:05 p.m. on Aug. 22. The 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee suffered three stab wounds, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Fox News Digital.
Brown is formally charged with first-degree murder, according to the Mecklenburg County warrant for arrest. The charging text specifies that he “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did of malice aforethought kill and murder Iryna Zarutska” on Aug. 22, 2025.
Records obtained by Fox News Digital showed that Brown has a history of arrests going back more than a decade, including convictions for felony larceny and felony breaking and entering in 2013, and a 2015 conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon that sent him to prison for more than six years. He was released in 2020 but remained on parole until 2021, and subsequent charges against him included communicating threats and misuse of the 911 system earlier this year. Police said Brown and Zarutska did not know each other and the attack had been random.
GILGO BEACH SUSPECT REX HEUERMANN LOSES BID TO TOSS DNA EVIDENCE AT UPCOMING MURDER TRIAL
Zarutska’s death has renewed calls for action on public safety in Charlotte. Members of the Charlotte City Council expressed concern after Zarutska’s murder about violence on the city’s transit system.
Democratic North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said that he is “appalled” by the footage of the attack.
“We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That’s why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained police officers,” he wrote in a X post. “I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so they can stop these horrific crimes and hold violent criminals accountable.”
Rep. Brenden Jones, a Republican who represents the area, blamed Zarutska’s death on “the result of decades of Democrat Das and Sheriffs putting their woke agendas above public safety.”
He wrote on X that, “Violent criminals commit crimes with impunity, while families live in fear.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
U.S. News Today on Fox News
Read the full article .
