The family of Iryna Zarutska told the Ukrainian Embassy that they would bury her daughter in the U.S. because “she loved America,” a federal prosecutor announced on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors charged DeCarlos Brown on Tuesday with one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system over the fatal stabbing of Zarutska on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 22. Russ Ferguson, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, revealed during a press conference that her family decided to bury their daughter, a Ukrainian refugee, in the country that she loved.
“After Iryna’s death, the Embassy in Ukraine called and said, ‘We’ll help you bring her home.’ And her family said no. They said, ‘She loved America. We’re gonna bury her here.’ So I think we can give her an America to be proud of, as [Special Agent with the FBI in North Carolina James] Barnacle said, something here is broken and we’re here to fix it,” Ferguson said.
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Security footage from the light rail train showed Zarutska sitting down in her work uniform directly in front of Brown. Moments later, Brown stabbed Zarutska three times, and at least once in the neck.
Zarutska moved to the U.S. with her family in August 2022 to flee Russia’s invasion of her country and “quickly embraced her new life in the United States,” according to her obituary. She emigrated with her mother and two siblings. She will be remembered for her “kindness, her creativity, and the lasting impression she left on everyone she met,” her obituary said.
Officers with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) responded to an emergency call at around 9:55 p.m. and located Zarutska on the train, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). They also discovered the pocketknife used in the murder and other items.
“This brutal attack on an innocent woman simply trying to get to her destination is an attack on the American way of life,” Ferguson said. “Of course, crimes like this affect the victim the most—Iryna deserves justice, and we will bring justice to her and her family. But crimes like this also affect everyone who relies on mass transportation to get to and from work and go about their daily lives, and federal charges are necessary to protect the public and ensure confidence in our transportation systems.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Zarutska’s death is a result of “soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people.” FBI Director Kash Patel stated that this type of violence “was a disgraceful act that should never happen in America.”
Brown faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or death, the DOJ said.
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