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Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, is facing criticism over her response to the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was riding a Blue Line train in the North Carolina city when she was stabbed in a random attack.
In a statement sent by Lyles’ representatives to WCNC Charlotte, the mayor started out by offering “thoughts and prayers” to Zarutska’s family before discussing possible mental health issues for the suspect, Decarlos Brown, a felon with a lengthy criminal record.
“This is a tragic situation that sheds light on problems with society’s safety nets related to mental health care and the systems that should be in place,” Lyles said in the statement. “While I do not know the specifics of the man’s medical record, what I have come to understand is that he has long struggled with mental health and appears to have suffered a crisis. This was the unfortunate and tragic outcome.”
Mayor Lyles should resign. Her statements of concern for this assailant make her unfit to lead a major city.”
Lyles was not the only North Carolina leader to face backlash over a statement regarding the murder. Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, was scolded by the White House over a statement in which he called for increased police presence. While the Trump administration has pushed to increase law enforcement presence in major cities as a means to combating violent crime, a White House press secretary said Stein was putting the blame on the wrong people.
“He was arrested 14 times. The police did their jobs. You did not. And shame on you for trying to shift the blame,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson wrote on X in response to Stein’s statement.
Lyles appeared to change her messaging on Monday afternoon after scrutiny over her earlier statements. In a letter to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community, Lyles wrote that the attack revealed “a tragic failure by the courts and magistrates.”
“Our police officers arrest people only to have them quickly released, which undermines our ability to protect our community and ensure safety. We need a bipartisan solution to address repeat offenders who do not face consequences for their actions and those who cannot get treatment for their mental illness and are allowed to be on the streets. We have partnered before on legislation like North Carolina’s pre-trial integrity act, and we stand ready to partner again at the local, state, and federal level,” Lyles said.
The mayor also announced that the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) security personnel would be re-deployed for a stronger presence on the platforms of the line on which the deadly attack occurred.
Video from CATS shows Zarutska, 23, boarding the Lynx Blue Line just after 9:45 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 22. Zarutska, wearing her pizzeria uniform, sits in front of a man in a red hoodie and begins scrolling on her phone. The man then gets up after a few minutes, pulls out a knife and stabs Zarutska.
Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska came to the U.S. to escape war but was stabbed to death in Charlotte on Friday, Aug. 22. (WBTV; Evgeniya Rush/GoFundMe)
Brown is charged with first-degree murder, according to a Mecklenburg County arrest warrant. The charging text specifies that he “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did of malice aforethought kill and murder Iryna Zarutska” on Aug. 22, 2025.
Records obtained by Fox News Digital showed that Brown has a history of arrests going back more than a decade, including convictions for larceny and breaking-and-entering in 2013, and a 2015 conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon that sent him to prison for more than six years.
Brown was released in 2020 but remained on parole until 2021, and subsequent charges against him included communicating threats and misuse of the 911 system earlier this year. Police said Brown and Zarutska did not know each other and that the attack was random.
Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
