Gruesome train attack in Charlotte adds fuel to national debate on crime

By Eric Levenson, Wesley Bruer, Dianne Gallagher, CNN

Charlotte, North Carolina (CNN) — The national debate around crime and law-and-order politics has largely focused on America’s biggest cities in blue states: Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, as well as the federal government’s backyard of Washington, DC.

But the unprovoked stabbing last month of a Ukrainian refugee on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, has thrust the “Queen City” squarely into that conversation.

The gruesome video of what police said was Decarlos Brown’s random attack on Iryna Zarutska was released Friday and quickly sparked a wave of right-wing criticisms of Democratic-led cities and criminal justice reform policies.

The suspect has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for armed robbery, felony larceny and breaking and entering. He spent more than five years behind bars for robbery with a dangerous weapon, state records show. Family members told CNN Brown, who is homeless, has a history of mental health struggles.

Most recently, after a misdemeanor charge of misusing 911, he was released on the condition of a written promise he would appear for his next hearing, according to court records.

The White House said his release left him “free to slaughter an innocent woman just months later.”

Brown has been charged on the state level with first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing Zarutska. He was also charged federally Tuesday with one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system. CNN has reached out to Brown’s attorney for comment.

“We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence — he will never again see the light of day as a free man,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

The unprovoked attack is also being investigated by the FBI.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday he’s investigating the possibility of cutting federal funding from the city’s light rail system. The state auditor announced on Monday his office is also investigating the city’s transit system.

President Donald Trump posted about the stabbing on Truth Social, criticizing Democratic policies and promoting Republican candidate in next year’s closely watched Senate race.

“North Carolina, and every State, needs LAW AND ORDER, and only Republicans will deliver it!” he wrote.

Right-wing politicians have long used horrific crime stories – particularly those featuring Black suspects and White victims – to make broader criticisms of Democrats as soft on crime. It’s a playbook infamously honed in the “Willie Horton” campaign ad of the 1988 presidential race to attack presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.

US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Russ Ferguson said Tuesday the case was not about politics.

“If this was a political grandstand, there would be an opposite side to this. Is the opposite side let’s allow murders on our light rail? Is the opposite side let’s let people out of state prison so they can commit other crimes?” Ferguson said. “There’s no other side of this. There’s no politics of this. This is a pure and simple federal case.”

According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, in the first half of this year, “Charlotte experienced a 25% reduction in violent crime, which includes homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults, encompassing shootings” compared with the same time period last year. Overall crime has decreased 8%, the department said.

And Charlotte does not cleanly fit the partisan attacks the White House has waged in Chicago, LA or New York.

A Democratic-led city in a purple state dominated by a Republican legislature, Charlotte has only occasionally been a source of national political controversy, notably in its LGBTQ “bathroom bill” debate nearly a decade ago.

Incumbent Mayor Vi Lyles will win the Democratic primary in the race for her fifth two-year term, CNN projects. She faces a Republican and Libertarian in November, but the city has had a Democratic mayor for the past 16 years.

Much of the criticism has centered on the response from Lyles, whose initial statement did not significantly address the victim and instead focused on offering empathy to the suspect and addressing homelessness and mental illness.

“We, as a community, must do better for those members of our community who need help and have no place to go,” she wrote.

A follow-up statement notably thanked the media outlets who did not share video of the stabbing. Then her latest statement took a different tack and blamed courts and magistrates for allowing repeat offenders to remain on the streets.

“We need a bipartisan solution to address repeat offenders who do not face consequences for their actions and those who cannot get treatment for their mental illness and are allowed to be on the street,” she wrote.

Brown’s mother told CNN affiliate WSOC the court should have never let her son be out in the community given his previous arrests and mental health issues. She said they did everything they knew to try to get him help, but “the system failed him.”

Locals speak out about attack

On the ground in Charlotte, residents spoke to CNN about their safety concerns in light of the attack even as they questioned whether more security could have prevented it.

Zarutska was stabbed in Charlotte’s South End, a neighborhood transformed into an area of high-end apartments, restaurants, shops and breweries — fueled by the 2007 debut of the light rail system.

Unlike extensive transit systems in New York or Chicago, the Charlotte Area Transit System, known as CATS, has a more limited area. It consists of a bus system, north-south blue line light rail and an east-west gold line street car, with proposed plans for further expansion.

“As a native of Charlotte, I’m so sad to say that our city has gotten to this place,” Ferguson, the US Attorney, said Tuesday in announcing federal charges.

“To think now that you can’t even feel comfortable riding that train hits me deep. The light rail brought this city access to jobs, access to education. People could take the train to college. It really put Charlotte on the map. And this incident has really, really injured that,” he said.

Channing Chasco said he doesn’t really ride the light rail in Charlotte. But the new business owner, who lives near the East/West Boulevard stop not far from where the attack took place, said he has never felt unsafe in his neighborhood. He said he believes the national reaction to the killing stems from a mix of political opportunity and real concern about safety.

“I didn’t realize it was making national coverage,” he said. “Obviously, this was way more brutal and it’s something very different for this area, but I wasn’t expecting this to get all over the news nationally.”

Kathryn Dean, who lives in Charlotte’s Lower South End, the area where Zarutska worked and boarded the train, says her boyfriend rides the light rail every single day. Since the attack, she and her boyfriend have grown “more aware” and “feel uneasy,” she said, adding she often sees homeless people hanging out at train stops but usually tries to avoid places they congregate.

Dean takes early morning runs, and “as a small, 28-year-old blonde girl,” she said she is more aware of her surrounding since the stabbing. It’s made her take notice of her habits in public, like wearing headphones.

Dean takes early morning runs, and since the stabbing she’s been more aware of her surroundings and habits in public, like wearing headphones, she said.

Amy, who only wanted her first name used, told CNN she rides the light rail to work every day.

“I feel uncomfortable now, since it happened,” she said. “Before, the light rail was my choice, but now I think about just driving and parking since it happened.”

“Maybe they should do some more safety, fare checks. It’s hard because there are no gates. But maybe more checks would make you feel safer,” Amy said. She also acknowledged that after seeing video of the stabbing that she isn’t sure what police could have done in the moment to stop it.

Sheryl, who did not want to give her last name, told CNN she can’t stop thinking about the killing. Now, though, the Chicago native believes the attack is being used for political posturing on the national level.

“This is political. I don’t have anything against Trump, but he’s overstepping his power by doing things like sending the National Guard to cities. You see how he talks about Chicago? That’s where I’m from. I think he’s talking about this tragedy here for political reasons, too,” she said.

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