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Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, is facing criticism over her response to the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was riding a Blue Line train in the North Carolina city when she was stabbed in a random attack.
In a statement sent by Lyles’ representatives to WCNC Charlotte, the mayor started out by offering “thoughts and prayers” to Zarutska’s family before discussing possible mental health issues for the suspect, Decarlos Brown, a felon with a lengthy criminal record.
“This is a tragic situation that sheds light on problems with society’s safety nets related to mental health care and the systems that should be in place,” Lyles said in the statement. “While I do not know the specifics of the man’s medical record, what I have come to understand is that he has long struggled with mental health and appears to have suffered a crisis. This was the unfortunate and tragic outcome.”
CHILLING VIDEO SHOWS MOMENTS BEFORE UKRAINIAN REFUGEE STABBED TO DEATH ON CHARLOTTE LIGHT RAIL
Vi Lyles, mayor of Charlotte, during a campaign event with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, not pictured, at Bojangles Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (Allison Joyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The mayor later added that incidents like the stabbing of Zarutska should “force us to look at what we are doing across our community to address root causes. We will never arrest our way out of issues such as homelessness and mental health.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Lyles’ office regarding her statement and the resulting criticism but did not immediately receive a response.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy slammed Lyles and accused her of trying to hide “the ugly truth” from the American people.
“This monster had a track record longer than a CVS receipt, including prison time for robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, and larceny,” Duffy wrote in a post on X. “By failing to properly punish him, Charlotte failed Iryna Zarutska and North Carolinians. This is totally unacceptable!”
L-R: A mugshot of Decarlos Brown; surveillance video showing Brown on the light rail train. (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office; CATS)
UKRAINIAN WOMAN WHO FLED WAR STABBED TO DEATH AT CHARLOTTE LIGHT RAIL STATION
Rep. Brenden Jones, a Republican who represents the area, scolded Lyles after she issued a separate statement thanking those in the media for not reposting or sharing footage of the attack out of respect for Zarutska’s family.
“Charlotte’s Democrat mayor thanking the media for staying quiet about a tragic death shows exactly how Democrats in big cities try to cover up their crime problem,” Jones wrote on X.
Surveillance video 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)
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South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican, warned residents of his state to “beware traveling to Charlotte while Mayor Lyles remains in office.”
He called for the mayor to resign in the wake of her response to the attack.
“We don’t need more ‘compassion’ for sick and twisted criminals,” Norman said in a statement. “They need jail sentences. And this one needs the death penalty. Mayor Lyles should resign. Her statements of concern for this assailant make her unfit to lead a major city.”
Lyles was not the only North Carolina leader to face backlash over a statement regarding the murder. Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, was scolded by the White House over a statement in which he called for increased police presence. While the Trump administration has pushed to increase law enforcement presence in major cities as a means to combating violent crime, a White House press secretary said Stein was putting the blame on the wrong people.
“He was arrested 14 times. The police did their jobs. You did not. And shame on you for trying to shift the blame,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson wrote on X in response to Stein’s statement.
Lyles appeared to change her messaging on Monday afternoon after scrutiny over her earlier statements. In a letter to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community, Lyles wrote that the attack revealed “a tragic failure by the courts and magistrates.”
“Our police officers arrest people only to have them quickly released, which undermines our ability to protect our community and ensure safety. 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 streets. We have partnered before on legislation like North Carolina’s pre-trial integrity act, and we stand ready to partner again at the local, state, and federal level,” Lyles said.
The mayor also announced that the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) security personnel would be re-deployed for a stronger presence on the platforms of the line on which the deadly attack occurred.
Video from CATS shows Zarutska, 23, boarding the Lynx Blue Line just after 9:45 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 22. Zarutska, wearing her pizzeria uniform, sits in front of a man in a red hoodie and begins scrolling on her phone. The man then gets up after a few minutes, pulls out a knife and stabs Zarutska.
Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska came to the U.S. to escape war but was stabbed to death in Charlotte on Friday, Aug. 22. (WBTV; Evgeniya Rush/GoFundMe)
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Brown is charged with first-degree murder, according to a Mecklenburg County arrest warrant. The charging text specifies that he “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did of malice aforethought kill and murder Iryna Zarutska” on Aug. 22, 2025.
Records obtained by Fox News Digital showed that Brown has a history of arrests going back more than a decade, including convictions for larceny and breaking-and-entering in 2013, and a 2015 conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon that sent him to prison for more than six years.
Brown was released in 2020 but remained on parole until 2021, and subsequent charges against him included communicating threats and misuse of the 911 system earlier this year. Police said Brown and Zarutska did not know each other and that the attack was random.
Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.