We have to be able to handle “evil” people out there, otherwise we “don’t have a country,” President Donald Trump said in reaction to the horrific murder of a Ukrainian refugee that occurred on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I just give my love and hope to the family of the young woman who was stabbed … in Charlotte by a madman — a lunatic,” Trump said, explaining that the man “just got up and started — it’s right on the tape.”
“[It’s] not really watchable, because it’s so horrible, but just viciously stabbed. She’s just sitting there,” he said. “So they’re evil people. We have to be able to handle that. If we don’t handle that, we don’t have a country.”
The brutal killing took place on August 22, 2025. The victim, identified as 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, was stabbed to death on the Lynx Blue Line light rail system at the East/West Boulevard station. The suspect has been identified as Decarlos Brown Jr., 34 — a repeat offender with convictions including “armed robbery, felony larceny, breaking and entering, and shoplifting,” per Newsweek.
WSOC reporter Joe Bruno said they heard from the suspect’s mother, who is “not making excuses for her son,” deeming his actions “atrocious, it was horrible and it was wrong.”
He reminded his audience that he previously reported that Brown “served more than 5 years on an armed robbery charge,” and Brown’s mother said he began “saying weird things” upon his release.
He continued:
She says she got Brown evaluated but his behavior became aggressive so she got an involuntary commitment order from the courts. He was placed under psychiatric monitoring for two weeks and diagnosed with schizophrenia. But after he was released she says Brown became so aggressive she had to kick him out. He became homeless.
In January, Brown was arrested for misusing the 911 system. Police say he called from the hospital and claimed someone gave him “man made material” that controlled when he “ate, walked and talked.” Despite his criminal past and homelessness, Magistrate Teresa Stokes allowed him to be released from jail on a written promise to appear. In court last month on this charge, his public defender questioned Brown’s mental capacity. Judge Roy Wiggins ordered a forensic evaluation.
Brown’s mom says the court should have never let her son be out in the community knowing he had mental health issues and previous arrests.
Further, Bruno said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s community policing team was “well acquainted with Brown,” encountering him three times in 2024, and others have pointed to this man’s lengthy criminal history, expressing shock that he was released and allowed to roam the streets.
He has since been arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
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