On Aug. 22, 2025 Iryna Zarutska, a 23- year old refugee from Ukraine, was fatally stabbed in the neck on the Lynx Blue Line train.
Four minutes after getting on the train, Zarutska was stabbed in her neck three times by Decarlos Brown, who suffered from schizophrenia.
Surveillance footage showed that after the stabbing of Iryna Zarutska, she remained conscious for nearly a minute before bleeding out and collapsing on the floor of the train. After seeing Zarutska collapsing on the floor, passengers around Zarutska noticed her and provided assistance. But Zarutska became unresponsive and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Zarutska was born in Ukraine on May 22, 2002. She moved to North Carolina in the United States six months after the war between Russia and Ukraine started. She left Ukraine with her mom, sister, and brother in 2022, though her father couldn’t leave Ukraine with them.
Following the 2022 invasion, Ukraine initially imposed a ban on most men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country under martial law. This broad restriction was aimed at ensuring the country had enough military manpower.
However, the rules have since been eased for some younger men. In August 2025, Ukraine’s government changed the regulations to allow men aged 18 to 22 to travel abroad freely, as long as they carry a military registration document.
Her mom says that Zarutska had a talent for drawing, and she used to give her art to the people she was close with. She easily adapted to her life in the USA and really enjoyed living in North Carolina.
The murderer, Decarlos Brown, was a homeless 34-year-old man who had been jailed multiple times for robbery and illegal trespassing.
His mother and sister stated that Brown was diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffered hallucinations. After killing Zarutska, Brown told his sister that he attacked her because she was reading his mind.
“I knew he was battling something,” Tracey Brown said to CNN.
Freshman Amalia Mukhamedghalieva said, “As was said, he suffers from schizophrenia and it is better for such people to be treated in a mental hospital rather than sentenced to prison and even released early.”
Zarutska’s death received a lot of attention after the news of her death broke, and footage from surveillance cameras on the bus was released.
The inaction of passengers sitting next to her, the violence of the murder, Brown’s mental health condition and his criminal record caused a lot of public shock and concern.
Brown had a lengthy criminal history and a history of struggling with mental illness. Public discussion on social media has focused on why a person with such a record and severe mental health issues was on the streets.
Zarutska was trying to run away from possible death and danger due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, but was faced with unfair reprisal against life even in a safer country.
“I really hope it will make people care more and take action, so things like this don’t happen again. But sometimes the world forgets too fast, and that scares me. I just hope her story will not be ignored,” sophomore Tetiana Lutsak said.
This incident sparked concern about safety in public spaces in the United States. Many have begun to demand that the government and court systems provide more mental health support. People have been concerned about this topic because people with mental illnesses can harm not only themselves but also those around them, which puts people’s safety in question.
Brown was arrested and is currently being held at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center in North Carolina. He was arrested at the train station shortly after the stabbing and now faces the potential death penalty.
“Their rights come in conflict with society’s rights, and sometimes those people’s rights need to be impinged or constricted so that they are not causing these kinds of tragedies in greater society. It’s a real tricky balance, and we don’t have in the United States, we have not put enough money and funding into programs designed for the sickest, most difficult, problematic cases. Nobody wants to deal with those people,” Social Studies teacher Andrew Wilson said.
Following his arrest, a judge ordered Brown to undergo a 60-day psychological evaluation. A competency hearing to determine whether he is fit to stand trial has been delayed until April 2026.
