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A haunting new video shows the last moments of a Ukrainian refugee’s life before she was stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train last month.
The surveillance footage, released by the Carlotte Area Transit System (CATS), shows 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska boarding the Lynx Bline line just after 9:45 p.m. on Friday, August 22.
The footage shows Zarutska in her pizzeria uniform while scrolling on her phone. A man in a red hoodie is seen sitting behind her.
Around four minutes later, the man pulls out a knife and begins stabbing Zarutska three times, including at least once in the neck.
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Surveillance footage showing the moment before a young Ukrainian woman was stabbed to death in a random attack on the Lynx Blue Line on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (NewsNation via Charlotte Area Transit System)
Zarutska, who had fled war-town Ukraine, grabs her neck as blood spills onto the floor. Authorities later pronounced her dead at the scene.
The video shows the suspect walk through the rail car, take off his sweatshirt, and wait by the doors as passengers look on.
The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, was arrested shortly after the stabbing and hospitalized before being arrested on a charge of first-degree murder.
Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska came to the U.S. to escape war but was stabbed to death in Charlotte on Friday. (EVGENIYA RUSH on GoFundMe)
Records obtained by The New York Post showed that Brown has a history of arrests going back more than a decade, including charges of felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats. Police said Brown and Zarutska did not know each other and the attack had been random.
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Zarutska’s death has renewed calls for action on public safety in Charlotte. Members of the Charlotte City Council expressed concern after Zarutska’s murder about violence on the city’s transit system.
L-R: A mugshot of Decarlos Brown; Surveillance footage showing Brown on the light rail trains. (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office; CATS)
Rep. Brenden Jones, a Republican who represents the area, blamed Zarutska’s death on “the result of decades of Democrat Das and Sheriffs putting their woke agendas above public safety.”
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He wrote on X that, “Violent criminals commit crimes with impunity, while families live in fear.”
Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey contributed to this report.