SURVEILLANCE video shows the heartbreaking moment bystanders abandoned Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, leaving her for dead.
Zarutska, 23, was allegedly stabbed by Decarlos Brown, 34, while on a train on August 22.
Iryna Zarutska was allegedly stabbed by DeCarlos Brown on a public train[/caption]
Surveillance footage caught the attack[/caption]
Iryna Zarutska was a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee[/caption]
Brown was arrested 14 previous times[/caption]
Video footage from the train shows Zarutska keeping to herself as she took a seat in front of Brown on a public train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The young woman sat in front of Brown for nearly five minutes before Brown could be seen apparently pulling out a folding knife from his pocket.
As Brown got up, he lunged at the young woman with the pocketknife and allegedly stabbed her three times, including a fatal blow to the neck.
Brown then headed towards the train’s exit, leaving the young woman in shock and bleeding to death.
One man immediately got up from his seat, seemingly chasing Brown down.
Zarutska was left crying and holding her neck, looking around for help from other passengers.
However, the other people on the train didn’t bother to check on her or offer help.
Two passengers got up from their seats and calmly headed towards the exit without acknowledging the victim.
The bystanders who failed to do anything fell victim to the “bystander effect,” also known as the “Genovese effect.”
The Genovese effect was coined after a woman named Kitty Genovese was murdered in front of her own home.
About one dozen neighbors witnessed her murder, but only two called the police, and no one intervened to help her.
Psychologists have blamed the shocking lack of aid on the bystander effect, which means that a victim is less likely to get help when other witnesses are present.
Studies show that when the number of people in a group increases, the chances a victim has of getting help decrease.
‘NOT FIT FOR SOCIETY’
Brown was arrested and accused of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system.
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
Zarutska had recently come to the country from Ukraine to escape the ongoing war between Russia and her home country.
“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 the statement.
Her family lawyer described her as “kind and hardworking,” and beloved by those around her.
Brown, who has a history of schizophrenia and a criminal history that spans over a decade, has been arrested 14 times.
His sister Tracey, 33, shared shocking audio with the Daily Mail of her latest conversation with her older brother six days after the murder.
In the call, Brown can allegedly be heard telling Tracey that he thought the government planted foreign “materials” in his brain, which led him to stab Iryna.
“I hurt my hand, stabbing her. I don’t even know the lady,” Brown told his sister.
“I never said not one word to the lady at all. That’s scary, ain’t it.
“Why would somebody stab somebody for no reason?”
Tracey asked her brother why he chose Zarutska as his target, and he blamed it on the “materials” inside him that lashed out at her.
“Now they really gotta investigate what my body was exposed to… Now they gotta do an investigation as to who was the motive behind what happened,” he said.
Tracey told The Daily Mail that she didn’t believe her brother was safe for society and that the state failed him.
“I strongly feel like he should not have been on the streets at all,” Tracey said.
“I’m going to be honest. I’m not blaming anyone for his actions, except for the state. I’m blaming the state for letting him down as far as seeking help.
“When you have mentally ill people seeking help, and you’re running tests on them, and you clearly see that you are dealing with a psychosis on an acute level, you do not let them go back into society.
“He was a high risk. He was not in his right mind. He was not safe for society.”
Tracey said her brother was “crying for help, and no one heard him or took him seriously.”
TRUMP REACTS
President Trump has called for the death of Brown, calling him a “vicious monster.”
“In Charlotte, North Carolina, we saw the results of these policies when a 23-year-old woman who came here from Ukraine met her bloody end on a public train,” he said during a press conference on Tuesday.
“She was slaughtered by a deranged monster who is roaming free after 14 prior arrests.”
“We have to be vicious just like they are. It’s the only thing they understand,” he said of criminals.
