A UKRAINIAN refugee fled a warzone only to meet her end in a horrific death on a US train.
GoFundMe has responded after fundraisers were started to support the killer of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, who was stabbed to death in a “random attack” on August 22, 2025, after she boarded a train in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
Brown, 34, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder[/caption]
Iryna Zarutska, 23, was a Ukranian refugee who lived in the United States for about three years[/caption]
Her killer, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., was in the seat behind Zarutska before he produced a knife and violently attacked her, as seen in horrifying CCTV footage.
Brown, who was allegedly homeless at the time of the stabbing, already has 14 previous arrests under his belt for armed robbery, felony larceny, breaking and entering, and shoplifting, per local news affiliate WBTV.
In the footage, Brown got up from his seat, lunged at Zarutska from behind, and stabbed her in the throat more than a dozen times.
Commuters screamed in horror during the incident; days later, fundraisers began popping up in Brown’s support.
FUNDRAISERS SPARK FURY
One such GoFundMe, which has since been taken down, asked strangers to bankroll Brown’s defense and recovery, saying it would help the “fight against the racism and bias against our people,” implying that he was as much a victim as Zarutska.
Another fundraiser was titled, “Fight against the racism and bias against our people,” implying that the mental health system failed Brown due to his race.
“While what happened on the Blue Line was a tragedy, what we mustn’t lose sight of is the fact that Decarlos Brown Jr. was failed categorically by the judicial system and the mental health services of North Carolina, and as such is not entirely to blame for what happened,” one deleted GoFundMe page claimed, per The New York Post.
“Thank you for giving us a hand to push against this corrupt narrative,” another fundraiser stated.
GoFundMe has stated that raising money for the legal defense of those who have been charged with violent crimes is a direct violation of the platform’s policies.
“GoFundMe’s Terms of Service explicitly prohibit fundraisers that raise money for the legal defense of anyone formally charged with a violent crime,” a GoFundMe spokesperson said in a statement to The U.S. Sun.
“Consistent with this long-standing policy, all fundraisers for Decarlos Brown Jr.’s legal defense have been removed from the platform, and any donors who contributed have been fully refunded.”
Outraged citizens online slammed the fundraisers as twisted, disgusting, and a slap in the face to the victim’s memory.
“You can’t make this up. He [allegedly] murdered in cold blood and yet his supporters want you to think he was ‘failed’ by the system. Instead, he did exactly what the system wants him to do,” one user wrote on X.
“Anyone who donated to the GoFundMe for Decarlos Dejuan Brown should be named and f**king shamed!” another person wrote online.
Decarlos Brown Jr.’s criminal history
This is a timeline of Decarlos Brown Jr.’s criminal history since 2011
- 2011-Present: Arrested 14+ times for various crimes such as felony larceny, armed robbery with a dangerous weapon, burglary, shoplifting, assault, making threats/communicating threats, misuse of 911/false emergency calls
- 2020: Sentenced to prison for felony larceny and armed robbery
- 2021: Assaulted his sister shortly after release, causing minor injuries
- January 2025: Arrested for misusing 911 and claiming man-made substances controlled his body
- July 2025: Mental Health evaluation ordered with a schizophrenia diagnosis, but the evaluation was not carried out
“Race has f**k all to do with it! There would be absolute rage if the race was reversed!”
Brown had previously been arrested in January 2025 for misusing the 911 system, claiming that someone had planted a “man-made” substance into his body that controlled how he walked, talked, and ate, according to an arrest affidavit.
Before he called 911, police had conducted a welfare check on Brown, where they told him he was suffering from a medical issue and there was nothing law enforcement could do for him.
Brown became irate at their response, called 911, and was arrested shortly after, according to the Charlotte Observer.
In July 2025, Brown’s public defender for the January 2025 arrest questioned his capacity to continue with the legal proceedings, prompting a judge to order a forensic mental health evaluation, as reported by Queen City News.
The evaluation, however, was never completed.
Brown Jr. lunged at Zarutska on a Charlotte, North Carolina train[/caption]
This is moments before Brown Jr. stabbed Zarutska in the throat up to a dozen times[/caption]
But Brown is now being held without bond for Zarutska’s murder and has been ordered to complete a mental health evaluation for the upcoming trial, per WBTV.
“The public safety threat that you’re actually after is one that could be remedied well before you grind your way through a court system,” Mecklenberg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather told Axios.
He also noted that it is “significant that our community is focusing its attention not only on public safety, but also how mental health impacts public safety,” adding, “But we’re at the very beginning of a conversation, not an end of one.”
Another GoFundMe titled “Keep Decarlos Brown Jr. Locked Away Forever” had also been set up on the site, but it has been taken down as well.
Zarutska’s family, meanwhile, has started their own GoFundMe in her honor that has so far raised $79,000.
