'Seeking safety from the war': Artist from Ukraine brutally stabbed to death on light rail train for no apparent reason, police say

A young pistillate who escaped the perils of warfare was brutally stabbed to death for nary evident crushed connected a fashionable airy obstruction bid successful North Carolina past week, Tar Heel State instrumentality enforcement say.

Decarlos Dejuan Brown, Jr., 34, stands accused of 1 number of murder successful the archetypal degree, according to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.

On the nighttime of Aug. 22, Iryna Zarutska, 23, died connected the Charlotte Area Transit System's LYNX Blue Line train. She was repeatedly stabbed, astatine slightest erstwhile successful the throat, constabulary claim.

The victim, an artist, had precocious arrived successful the United States from Ukraine, according to a GoFundMe for her family. She near her autochthonal state successful bid to permission the regular menace of unit behind.

"Ira had precocious arrived successful the United States, seeking information from the warfare and hoping for a caller beginning," the fundraiser reads. "Tragically, her beingness was chopped abbreviated acold excessively soon."

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The incidental occurred conscionable earlier 10:00 p.m. astatine the East/West Boulevard presumption on Camden Road successful South End, authorities said.

And determination appears to beryllium nary motive whatsoever.

Detectives reviewed on-board surveillance footage which showed Zarutska entering the bid car and sitting straight successful beforehand of Brown, according to an affidavit obtained by The Charlotte Observer.

After that, the thrust carried connected for immoderate 4 and 1/2 minutes without incident, constabulary said. Then, without warning, provocation, oregon immoderate different benignant of interaction, Brown unfolds a knife, pauses, stands up, and yet stabs Zarutska implicit and over, according to instrumentality enforcement.

The footage shows the pistillate is rendered non-responsive arsenic humor hits the level and the antheral gets up and walks away, according to the affidavit.

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"The suspect is the assailant connected the video," the affidavit reads. "There appears to beryllium nary enactment betwixt the unfortunate and defendant."

Zarutska was pronounced dormant astatine the country of the alleged crime.

When constabulary arrived, respective onlookers pointed responding officers to Brown – who remained lasting connected an outbound platform. Police described the suspect arsenic having a chopped connected his close manus and said helium matched the statement fixed by 911 callers.

Zarutska held a grade successful creation restoration from Synergy College successful Kyiv and antecedently studied English astatine Rowan-Cabarrus Community College successful adjacent Salisbury, according to The Charlotte Ledger.

"She was ever precise helpful, precise supportive, and conscionable had a bosom of gold," a household person told Charlotte-based NBC affiliate WCNC. "She was a sweetheart. And it makes maine sick to deliberation that she's gone."

The suspect is good known to the ineligible strategy successful the area.

The Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office website presently shows 5 arrests for Brown dating backmost to 2022. But helium has a full of 16 antithetic cases successful the region dating backmost to 2013, according to WCNC. In 2015, the suspect was reportedly sentenced to a five-year authorities situation stint for robbery with a unsafe weapon, breaking and entering, and larceny. In September 2022, Brown was arrested again for allegedly assaulting a pistillate and damaging existent property, according to the sheriff's office.