Note: The following article includes details of violence that some readers may find distressing. Please proceed with caution.
Recently obtained surveillance footage reveals suspect Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr. pacing nervously on a platform before boarding a Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) light rail train, moments prior to the tragic stabbing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. The video also captures Brown disembarking the train, where he is subsequently detained by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers.
Fox News Digital acquired these videos via Freedom of Information Act requests directed at both the Charlotte Area Transit System and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. The footage depicts Brown, age 34, in the moments leading up to and following the random attack on Zarutska, which occurred on August 22.
In a chilling scene captured on video, Iryna Zarutska is seen cowering in fear as an assailant stands over her during the violent incident on the Charlotte, N.C., light rail train. (Image courtesy of NewsNation via Charlotte Area Transit System)
The video also shows Decarlos Brown Jr. at a station on the Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 22, 2025. (Image provided by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department)
Surveillance shows suspect before and after the fatal attack
One segment of the footage reveals Brown entering the inbound train on the Blue Line, dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans, with a red sweatshirt in hand. He appears restless, pacing along the platform before finally boarding the train.
In another clip, he is captured exiting the train, carrying the same red sweatshirt in his arms as he walks along the platform.
WATCH THE ARREST:
Police video captures search and arrest
Additional video from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police shows a group of officers arriving at the CATS platform and quickly swarming Brown and taking him into custody. Prior to the officers’ arrival, Brown is seen pacing near the light-rail tracks, his right hand wrapped in cloth. Officers approach with weapons drawn, ordering him to the ground.
Brown was detained without incident and provided medical attention before being taken into custody.
LISTEN TO THE 911 CALLS:
Graphic details from 911 calls
Fox News Digital previously obtained audio of five frantic 911 calls made in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing.
In one, a caller tells dispatchers, “This man f—— stabbed her for no reason.”
Another caller pleads, “There’s a lady on the ground. She’s bleeding a lot. I don’t think she’s responsive.”
Witnesses described “a lot of blood” and feared the victim “was stabbed in the carotid [artery].”
Booking photo of Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., taken Aug. 28, 2025, days after the fatal light-rail stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO))
According to police and court records, officers responding to the Lynx Blue Line near 1821 Camden Road found Zarutska unresponsive with three stab wounds to the middle of her throat. She was pronounced dead at 10:05 p.m.
Brown was treated for a hand injury and later booked on charges of first-degree murder.
Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska came to the U.S. to escape war but was stabbed to death in Charlotte. (Evgeniya Rush/GoFundMe)
Federal prosecutors also charged him with violence against a mass transportation system resulting in death.
“Iryna Zarutska had likely taken that train ride many times before,” James Barnacle Jr., the FBI Charlotte Special Agent in Charge, said in a statement after the federal charge was filed in September. “She was probably tired after a day at work and just wanted to go home, but tragically she never made it.”
