![\"23-year-old](\"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/iryna-zarutska-ukrainian-refugee-flees-110079233.jpg\")
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The stabbing death of a Ukrainian woman in Charlotte is hitting the immigrant community from that war-torn country hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The killing\u00a0<\/strong>happened near a CATS light rail station<\/strong>\u00a0in the South End last Friday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n Police are accusing Charlotte resident Decarlos Brown of the murder of Iryna Zarutska.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 23-year-old woman left Ukraine for the Charlotte area three years ago to escape her country\u2019s war with Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody was shocked, and people still are,\u201d said Anna Bondar, a Ukrainian refugee who knows Zarutska\u2019s aunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bondar says Ukrainians are used to horrible news, but usually it comes from home, not North Carolina, which she calls the \u201cbright, sunny\u201d half of their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCharlotte is considered a safe place by most people,\u201d Bondar said. \u201cWhen something this dark happens here, it is truly devastating and shocking. I think that it should not happen to anyone anywhere in the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bondar says the tragedy made this week\u2019s Ukrainian Independence Day difficult to celebrate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dozens of family members and friends attended Zarutska\u2019s funeral on Wednesday in Huntersville.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Her obituary, written by family, says she had a deep love for animals and wanted to be a veterinary assistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n It calls her a \u201cgifted and passionate artist,\u201d who \u201cshared her creativity generously, gifting family and friends with her artwork. She loved sculpting and designing unique, eclectic clothing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n An online fundraiser has been started to help support the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brown remains in the hospital as of Wednesday night and will be arrested upon his release.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0said Saturday.<\/p>\n Zarutska had \u201crecently arrived in the United States, seeking safety from the war and hoping for a new beginning,\u201d according to a GoFundMe page set up to fundraise for the young woman\u2019s aunt and other family members during the \u201cheartbreaking time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTragically, her life was cut short far too soon\u2026 This is an irreparable loss for her family,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n Photos\u00a0taken by local outlet WSOC-TV\u00a0showed 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\u00a0to the Charlotte Observer.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n He is homeless and served five years in prison for the robbery with a deadly weapon charge, according to WSOC-TV.<\/p>\n Other past charges have been dropped, according to the Charlotte Observer.<\/p>\n The alleged killer, however, currently has pending charges for misuse of the 911 system in January following a police welfare check \u2014 which revealed his troubling thoughts, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n Brown told authorities during the visit he believed someone had given him a \u201cman-made\u201d material that controlled when he ate, walked, and talked, an affidavit obtained by the newspaper said.<\/p>\n \u201cBrown wanted officers to investigate this \u2018man-made\u2019 material that was inside of his body,\u201d the affidavit said.<\/p>\n Officers then advised Brown that he was suffering a medical issue, and there was nothing more they could do to help him.<\/p>\n What do you think?\u00a0Post a comment.<\/p>\n He became upset over their response and called 911. He was arrested after he hung up the phone, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n Police have not released information on what led up to Friday\u2019s deadly stabbing. The investigation into the incident remains ongoing.<\/p>\n Mike Pence with tears in their eyes make the sad announcement..<\/p>\n 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\u2014each word carefully chosen, each syllable laced with sorrow.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a decision I arrived at lightly,\u201d he began, his voice barely above a whisper. \u201cIt is one that has weighed on my heart for a long time\u2014tested my faith, challenged my principles, and forced me to confront my deepest beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n The room remained silent, the gravity of his words anchoring everyone in place. This wasn\u2019t a campaign speech, nor a policy announcement. It was something far more intimate\u2014an 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.<\/p>\n Earlier that day, he had gone through the motions of routine\u2014buttoning 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2014between duty and conscience, between expectation and truth.<\/p>\n Now, before the world, he made his stand\u2014not 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.<\/p>\n And though the silence that followed his speech spoke volumes, it was not just the end of a chapter\u2014it was the beginning of a legacy defined not by power, but by the courage to speak truth, even when it hurts most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The stabbing death of a Ukrainian woman in Charlotte is hitting the immigrant community from that war-torn country hard.\u00a0 The killing\u00a0happened near a CATS light rail station\u00a0in the South End last Friday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdnn-11.cybergalleria.com\/uploads\/images\/tinymce-uploads\/20250916\/mceclip1-1758019192-q80.webp\")
For months, former Vice President Mike Pence had been wrestling with a truth that he had long tried to suppress\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n