Iryna Zarutska’s Family Calls for Public Safety Reform Following Killing in Charlotte

‘This could have been anyone riding the light rail that night,’ her family says.

Iryna Zarutska in an undated photo. Iryna Zarutska via Instagram via Reuters

The family of a Ukrainian woman who was stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail is now calling on the city’s leaders to improve public safety.

Iryna Zarutska was killed while riding a light-rail train in Charlotte last month, and video footage of the incident was released online last week, sparking public outcry. Decarlos Brown Jr. was charged with first-degree murder in her death, while the Justice Department on Tuesday announced federal charges against him.

“We are heartbroken beyond words. Iryna came here to find peace and safety, and instead her life was stolen from her in the most horrific way,” a family spokesperson said in a statement issued to The Epoch Times on Tuesday. “No family should have to go through this.”

The family said that “this could have been anyone riding the light rail that night” and that they “are committed to making sure this never happens again.”

The spokesperson said that her family’s “immediate priority is to ensure the man responsible for Iryna’s murder is brought to justice and remains behind bars,” but added “they are also calling attention to a broader crisis in public safety and systemic failure.”

They noted there was a “a lack of visible or effective security presence on the CATS (Charlotte Area Transit System) Blue Line,” no oversight in contact between CATS and security services, and the “absence of adequate safety measures that could have prevented this tragedy.”

A full investigation, they said, should be carried out after the incident.

Photos and video footage of Zarustka, 23, being fatally stabbed spread quickly across social media and in news outlets in recent days. The Justice Department on Tuesday charged Brown, 34, with causing death on a mass transportation system.

Court records also show Brown was initially charged in 2014 with being a felon in possession of a firearm, which is sometimes used by federal prosecutors to pull cases into the federal system where there are often stiffer penalties. Federal prosecutors did not take the case at the time, and the state charge was dropped in exchange for a guilty plea on a charge of robbery using a deadly weapon, North Carolina court records show.

Video released Friday shows Zarutska entering a light-rail train on Aug. 22 and taking a seat in front of Brown. Minutes later, without any apparent interaction, he pulled out a pocketknife, stood, and slashed her in the neck, investigators said.

Officials in the Trump administration have homed in on the woman’s stabbing, arguing that cities across the United States have out-of-control violence that needs remediation. Federal funding may be withheld for some cities if crime persists on transit systems, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested earlier this week.

“The reality is that the gross majority of violent crime is committed by a very small group of people and we should be throwing them in prison,” Vice President JD Vance also said in a statement on social media on Tuesday, suggesting that the narrative of violent crime as a “systemic” issue instead of individual responsibility is false.

Attorney information for Brown was not immediately available on Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.