Charlotte-area news outlets have been all over the story of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska's murder on Charlotte's light rail system since Day One. But it took the national media two weeks to get around to "covering" it, and that was in large part due to the release of the shocking video of her murder, which horrified Americans in part due to the outright randomness, brazenness, and senselessness of the attack.
As RedState previously reported, the reactions of local Democrat "leaders" in and around Charlotte have come under heavy scrutiny, with Mayor Vi Lyles' soft-on-crime statements focusing more on sympathy for the alleged murderer, a violent repeat offender who police have identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., than on the actual victim. Zarutska fled a war-torn part of the world, only to see her young life cut short as she presumably was headed home after her shift at a local pizzeria was over..
The national media's newfound interest in the story was not the only belated response to it. Other Democrat officials in NC are also now finally weighing in after ignoring it even as it blew up, including Gov. Josh Stein (D), who proclaimed that these issues will be resolved once we get more officers on the streets:
I am heartbroken for the family of Iryna Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence, and I am appalled by the footage of her murder. We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That’s why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained police officers. I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so they can stop these horrific crimes and hold violent criminals accountable.
I am heartbroken for the family of Iryna Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence, and I am appalled by the footage of her murder. We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That’s why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained…
— Governor Josh Stein (@NC_Governor) September 8, 2025
What Stein left out was that he used to be the state's Attorney General, and that he was on the infamous NC Task Force for Racial Equity and Criminal Justice that then-Gov. Roy Cooper (D) - who is now a candidate for the U.S. Senate - created in the early days of the George Floyd riots:
Governor, your task force for racial equity in criminal justice specifically called for increasing pre-trial release. And decriminalizing “public behavior,” meaning homelessness and being a public nuisance.
Both of these policies contributed to Decarlo Brown being on the streets and having the opportunity to commit murder on the Charlotte light rail. Are you going to roll back these policies that your racial task force initiated that are making North Carolinians unsafe?
Governor, your task force for racial equity in criminal justice specifically called for increasing pre-trial release. And decriminalizing “public behavior,” meaning homelessness and being a public nuisance.
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) September 8, 2025
Both of these policies contributed to Decarlo Brown being on the streets… pic.twitter.com/N0YFWpuQBD
SEE ALSO: Michael Whatley Drops Receipts on Roy Cooper As Fatal Stabbing Becomes Focal Point in NC Senate Race
Current NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson (D), a former U.S. Congressman, state senator, and MSNBC fan favorite, also weighed in Monday with a statement that fell far short:
This was an outrageously heinous and vicious act. Iryna was killed while sitting peacefully, an innocent life taken in a shocking and brutal way. We have told the district attorney, who is leading the prosecution, that our office will provide any and all support to deliver justice. We will remain steadfast until that justice is achieved.
This was an outrageously heinous and vicious act. Iryna was killed while sitting peacefully, an innocent life taken in a shocking and brutal way. We have told the district attorney, who is leading the prosecution, that our office will provide any and all support to deliver…
— Jeff Jackson (@JeffJacksonNC) September 8, 2025
Except Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather, who was appointed to the DA's office in 2017 by Cooper, was also on that "racial justice task force" and has also touted his efforts "to remake our justice system, to provide second chances to those who need them, and to promote a 'smart on crime' approach to public safety."
Then there's Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden (D), known around here for, among other things, refusing to cooperate with ICE detainers on violent offenders, and who has faced intense public criticism from now-former chief deputies who have accused him of a toxic work culture that allegedly included racism (McFadden is black, and the allegations are that he used racial slurs against both white and black deputies).
McFadden's response to the fatal stabbing tragedy was to blame not the system but "the community":
He took the question off the page: “The majority of his time is spent in his community. … So we take that, the time that [Brown] spent with us, versus the time that he is with the community: Who failed him? I didn’t fail him. The community failed him.”
As for Cooper? As of this writing, he still hasn't commented on this case:
The American Dream starts with safety. Ol’ Roy still hasn’t said a single thing about the death of Iryna Zarutska on the Charlotte light rail. https://t.co/wznrvemrJh
— Andrew Dunn (@andrew_dunn) September 7, 2025
So we have failed leaders who are pretending to lead, others who are passing the buck, and others who don't care enough to respond at all (presumably because this murder can't be blamed on white supremacy). Just another day in the blue city of Charlotte and the red-to-purplish state of North Carolina.
There's a way forward here, but as long as voters keep putting the same political party in these positions while expecting different results, things will never change.
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