A federal grand jury has handed down an indictment that could result in the death penalty for the man accused of fatally stabbing a young Ukrainian woman on Charlotte’s public transit system.
Decarlos Brown Jr. was indicted Wednesday on federal charges of violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death.
The charge carries the possibility of capital punishment.
Brown stands accused of stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on August 22 aboard the Lynx Blue Line light rail in Charlotte.
Video evidence allegedly captured the entire incident.
Authorities collected a pocketknife and other items from the crime scene following the attack.
Surveillance footage reviewed by investigators showed Zaruska boarding the light rail car and taking a seat in the row directly in front of Brown.
Approximately four minutes after Zaruska sat down, Brown allegedly removed a knife from his pocket and opened it.
He then allegedly struck the victim three times from behind, according to prosecutors.
An arrest affidavit obtained by ABC News stated there appeared to be “no interaction between the victim and defendant” before the stabbing occurred.
After allegedly carrying out the attack, Brown walked away from the victim.
Emergency responders pronounced Zarutska dead at the scene.
A witness directed law enforcement officials to the suspect’s location following the incident, the affidavit stated.
Officers responding to the scene found Brown on the light rail platform.
He was taken into custody without incident.
The 34-year-old suspect has an extensive criminal history.
His prior charges include larceny and breaking and entering offenses.
Brown served five years in prison beginning in 2015 for robbery with a dangerous weapon, according to records from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
Zarutska’s obituary revealed she was born in Ukraine and had recently emigrated to the United States.
She came to America with her mother, sister and brother to “escape the war, and she quickly embraced her new life in the United States.”
The young woman was only 23 years old at the time of her death.
She had fled one war zone only to lose her life in what appears to have been a random act of violence.
The federal charges now levied against Brown represent a significant escalation in the case.
Resist the Mainstream reported back in September that Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes who lacks legal licensing in North Carolina released Brown on cashless bail months before he allegedly murdered Zarutska.
State law, however, notably does not require magistrate judges in North Carolina to hold law licenses.
Mayor Vi Lyles received significant criticism following her response to the fatal stabbing.
Lyles focused on the suspect’s apparent mental health struggles in her initial public statement regarding the murder, Resist the Mainstream outlined.
She suggested that traditional law enforcement approaches would not address underlying issues.
“We will never arrest our way out of issues such as homelessness and mental health,” Lyles stated, according to WCNC.
The mayor drew comparisons between mental health conditions and physical ailments in her remarks.
“Mental health disease is just that — a disease like any other that needs to be treated with the same compassion, diligence and commitment as cancer or heart disease,” Lyles continued in her statement to local media outlets.
