It started with a ride in a train which was meant to be normal. Rather, it was the last moments of a young woman’s life, which is recorded on viral footage that is both haunting and devastating simultaneously.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, took a ride on a light rail train last month hoping that all she would get was a ride. What she discovered was inequality and violence so absurd and brutal that it has caused a national cry out.
That attacker who was later identified as 34-year old Decarlos Brown Jr. leaped at Zarutska with a pocket knife. The video captures her shaking in shock and becoming unsteady and then falling down as the life goes away. She never stood a chance. Brown was soon arrested. With a history of robbery, felony larceny and threats, his record presents the picture of a man who most people in the justice system know well, but nonetheless remains at liberty.
To Zarutska, who had escaped the bombs and the horrors of the war in Ukraine to seek refuge in the United States, it is unbearable that it is the irony. She managed to survive in war only to be killed on her way to the transportation in the same country she relied on her.
A Criminal System Under Fire
The homicide has brought up aortic wounds of public security and criminal justice reform. How come that a repeat offender like Brown who has a record of violence is allowed to stroll freely in the society?
On September 9, the Department of Justice added to his pending first-degree murder case, a federal indictment of him on Terrorist Attack or Other Violence Against a Mass Transportation System. His name is the one that is linked today with a system that many nowadays claim is broken beyond repair.
The tragedy is particularly acute to the Ukrainians community in America. Zarutska was a refugee running away to avoid being targeted by Russian missiles only to find herself in another form of violence in the U.S. soil.
The Battle to preserve the memory of Iryna.
There are rising voices of compassion even in grief. Eoghan McCabe, CEO of Intercom, shocked a lot of people when he announced a 500,000 fund in place of murals of the face of Zarutska in large cities in the United States.
McCabe posted on X: “I am giving out 500k in 10k grants to have murals painted of the face of Iryna Zarutska on high-profile US city locations.”
The post quickly went viral, gaining the support of several high profile supporters such as Elon Musk who allegedly promised to contribute an extra 1 million dollars towards the cause. His role has not been completed yet and it is unclear whether or not the symbolic gesture has made the campaign more visible, but it was an effective gesture.
I will contribute $1M Elon Musk (elonmusk) September 10, 2025.
Since that time McCabe has started a GiveSendGo campaign to funnel people into the mural fund. Over $28,000 was received in under 24 hours. The target is one hundred thousand dollars, and all the money over and above a personal commitment of McCabe is to be used in the creation of legally authorized, high profile memorials.
Simultaneously with this initiative, a GoFundMe page established in August to raise money to help the grieving family of Zarutska has gathered close to $300,000.
