The stabbing death of a Ukrainian woman in Charlotte is hitting the immigrant community from that war-torn country hard.
The killing happened near a CATS light rail station in the South End last Friday night.
Police are accusing Charlotte resident Decarlos Brown of the murder of Iryna Zarutska.
The 23-year-old woman left Ukraine for the Charlotte area three years ago to escape her country’s war with Russia.
“Everybody was shocked, and people still are,” said Anna Bondar, a Ukrainian refugee who knows Zarutska’s aunt.
Bondar says Ukrainians are used to horrible news, but usually it comes from home, not North Carolina, which she calls the “bright, sunny” half of their lives.
“Charlotte is considered a safe place by most people,” Bondar said. “When something this dark happens here, it is truly devastating and shocking. I think that it should not happen to anyone anywhere in the world.”
Bondar says the tragedy made this week’s Ukrainian Independence Day difficult to celebrate.
Dozens of family members and friends attended Zarutska’s funeral on Wednesday in Huntersville.
Her obituary, written by family, says she had a deep love for animals and wanted to be a veterinary assistant.
It calls her a “gifted and passionate artist,” who “shared her creativity generously, gifting family and friends with her artwork. She loved sculpting and designing unique, eclectic clothing.”
An online fundraiser has been started to help support the family.
Brown remains in the hospital as of Wednesday night and will be arrested upon his release.
A 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who recently fled her war-torn home for a safer life in the US was knifed to death by a homeless career criminal at a North Carolina train station last week, according to family members and authorities.
Iryna Zarutska suffered multiple stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the East/West Boulevard light rail station in South End, Charlotte just before 10 p.m. Friday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Saturday.
Zarutska had “recently arrived in the United States, seeking safety from the war and hoping for a new beginning,” according to a GoFundMe page set up to fundraise for the young woman’s aunt and other family members during the “heartbreaking time.”
“Tragically, her life was cut short far too soon… This is an irreparable loss for her family,” the statement read.
Photos taken by local outlet WSOC-TV showed police tape cordoning off the platform and a train at the light rail station that night. Police have yet to confirm if the stabbing took place on the train, platform, or nearby, according to the Charlotte Observer.
Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was identified as the suspect and transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries Friday night. He has since been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, cops said.
Brown has been arrested a slew of times since 2011 for felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats, according to court records obtained by The Post.
He is homeless and served five years in prison for the robbery with a deadly weapon charge, according to WSOC-TV.
Other past charges have been dropped, according to the Charlotte Observer.
The alleged killer, however, currently has pending charges for misuse of the 911 system in January following a police welfare check — which revealed his troubling thoughts, the outlet reported.
Brown told authorities during the visit he believed someone had given him a “man-made” material that controlled when he ate, walked, and talked, an affidavit obtained by the newspaper said.
“Brown wanted officers to investigate this ‘man-made’ material that was inside of his body,” the affidavit said.
Officers then advised Brown that he was suffering a medical issue, and there was nothing more they could do to help him.
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He became upset over their response and called 911. He was arrested after he hung up the phone, the outlet reported.
Police have not released information on what led up to Friday’s deadly stabbing. The investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
Mike Pence with tears in their eyes make the sad announcement..
For months, former Vice President Mike Pence had been wrestling with a truth that he had long tried to suppress—a truth that, despite his hopes, refused to be silenced. It was a burden he carried privately, cloaked behind a calm demeanor and unwavering professionalism. But now, standing beneath the harsh lights of the press room, facing a sea of cameras and expectant eyes, he could no longer delay the inevitable.
His expression was somber, marked by the fatigue of sleepless nights and the silent weight of introspection. As he approached the podium, a hush fell over the room. Gone was the familiar confidence in his posture; in its place stood a man visibly shaken, bearing the heaviness of what he was about to say. His voice, usually measured and steady, quivered with restrained emotion. Tears welled in his eyes, a reflection of the personal toll the moment demanded. He paused, drawing a deep, trembling breath before speaking—each word carefully chosen, each syllable laced with sorrow.
“This is not a decision I arrived at lightly,” he began, his voice barely above a whisper. “It is one that has weighed on my heart for a long time—tested my faith, challenged my principles, and forced me to confront my deepest beliefs.”
The room remained silent, the gravity of his words anchoring everyone in place. This wasn’t a campaign speech, nor a policy announcement. It was something far more intimate—an unveiling of the man behind the title. For years, Pence had stood at the center of American politics, a figure of stoicism and conviction. Yet in this moment, stripped of pretense, he revealed a side of himself rarely seen: raw, vulnerable, human.
Earlier that day, he had gone through the motions of routine—buttoning his shirt, reviewing notes, praying quietly in the solitude of his study. Each step felt heavier than the last, each breath a reminder of the crossroads he stood at.
The speech in his hands had been rewritten dozens of times, revised with every sleepless night and whispered prayer. Still, no version ever felt quite right, because no words could truly capture what this decision meant to him.
He had always been a man of unwavering principles, guided by his faith, loyal to his convictions. But as the months passed and the pressure mounted, the clarity he sought had slowly given way to conflict—between duty and conscience, between expectation and truth.
Now, before the world, he made his stand—not as a politician, but as a man choosing integrity over ambition, conviction over comfort. The cameras flashed. The world watched. But for Mike Pence, this was not a performance. It was a reckoning.
And though the silence that followed his speech spoke volumes, it was not just the end of a chapter—it was the beginning of a legacy defined not by power, but by the courage to speak truth, even when it hurts most.