A young woman who had fled the dangers of war was senselessly stabbed to death on a well-used light rail train in North Carolina last week, according to state law enforcement in the Tar Heel State.

Decarlos Dejuan Brown, Jr., 34, stands accused of one count of murder in the first degree, according to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.

On the evening of August 22, Iryna Zarutska, 23, lost her life aboard the Charlotte Area Transit System’s LYNX Blue Line train. She was stabbed multiple times, including at least once in the throat, as reported by the police.

The victim, an artist by profession, had recently relocated from Ukraine to the United States, as stated in a GoFundMe campaign set up for her family. She had left her homeland to escape the constant threat of conflict.

“Ira had recently arrived in the United States, with hopes for safety from the war and aspirations for a new start,” the fundraising page mentions. “Regrettably, her life ended much too soon.”

The incident occurred just before 10:00 p.m. at the East/West Boulevard station along Camden Road in South End, authorities said.

And there appears to be no motive whatsoever.

Investigators analyzed the on-board surveillance footage, which captured Zarutska boarding the train and seating herself directly in front of Brown, as stated in an affidavit reviewed by The Charlotte Observer.

After that, the ride carried on for some four and 1/2 minutes without incident, police said. Then, without warning, provocation, or any other sort of interaction, Brown unfolds a knife, pauses, stands up, and finally stabs Zarutska over and over, according to law enforcement.

The footage shows the woman is rendered non-responsive as blood hits the floor and the man gets up and walks away, according to the affidavit.

“The defendant is the assailant on the video,” the affidavit reads. “There appears to be no interaction between the victim and defendant.”

Zarutska was pronounced dead at the scene of the alleged crime.

When police arrived, several onlookers pointed responding officers to Brown – who remained standing on an outbound platform. Police described the defendant as having a cut on his right hand and said he matched the description given by 911 callers.

Zarutska held a degree in art restoration from Synergy College in Kyiv and previously studied English at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in nearby Salisbury, according to The Charlotte Ledger.

“She was always very helpful, very supportive, and just had a heart of gold,” a family friend told Charlotte-based NBC affiliate WCNC. “She was a sweetheart. And it makes me sick to think that she’s gone.”

The defendant is well known to the legal system in the area.

The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office website currently shows five arrests for Brown dating back to 2022. But he has a total of 16 different cases in the county dating back to 2013, according to WCNC. In 2015, the defendant was reportedly sentenced to a five-year state prison stint for robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, and larceny. In September 2022, Brown was arrested again for allegedly assaulting a woman and damaging real property, according to the sheriff’s office.