Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,
Ahead of President Trump’s comments, the FBI and Transportation Department have both signaled that federal officials will investigate the fatal stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee in North Carolina after video footage of the incident was released last week.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on Monday night that the agency “will be investigating Charlotte over its failure to protect Iryna Zarutska,” referring to the victim in the stabbing murder.
“If mayors can’t keep their trains and buses safe, they don’t deserve the taxpayers’ money,” Duffy added on X.
“Murders on public transit like that of Iryna Zarutska should never be allowed to happen again.”
At the same time, FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media that the bureau was continuing to investigate the incident.
“The FBI has been investigating the Charlotte train murder from day one. Stay tuned,” Patel wrote on Monday evening on X.
Patel did not provide other details about the nature of the investigation.
Critics say the death of Zarutska, 23, could have been prevented, and they’re blaming officials for failing to keep a man with a history of mental illness, arrests, and erratic behavior off the streets before he killed her.
On Monday, President Donald Trump wrote on social media that “Criminals like this need to be LOCKED UP.”
The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, had served time in prison, been briefly committed for schizophrenia, and was arrested earlier this year after repeatedly calling 911 from a hospital, according to court records.
Zarutska had come to the United States to escape the war in Ukraine, relatives wrote in a GoFundMe post and in an obituary, describing her as determined to build a safer life.
Video footage of the incident shows the moments leading up to the stabbing death on a Charlotte Area Transit System light-rail train.
Zarutska is seen wearing a baseball cap, sitting on the train in front of Brown as she scrolls on the phone before Brown pulls out a knife and stabs her from behind.
The two did not appear to have any interaction beforehand.
The footage doesn’t show the stabbing, cutting away to when Brown is seen walking on the light-rail line covered in blood.
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, issued a statement on X on Saturday about the video showing the moments before the woman’s death.
“The video of the heartbreaking attack that took Iryna Zarutska’s life is now public. I want to thank our media partners and community members who have chosen not to repost or share the footage out of respect for Iryna’s family,” Lyles wrote.
“This was a senseless and tragic loss. My prayers remain with her loved ones as they continue to grieve through an unimaginable time.”
Brown was arrested at the scene and charged with first-degree murder, officials said in a statement last month. Court records show he had cycled through the criminal justice system for more than a decade, with 14 prior cases in Mecklenburg County, including serving five years for robbery with a dangerous weapon.
On Monday, Duffy said his office would conduct an investigation into the issue, warning that his department could withhold funding to municipalities if public safety isn’t made a priority.
“Your federal tax dollars go to fund a lot of these transit systems across the country,” Duffy told Fox News in an interview on Monday.
“And we have to look at them and say, ‘Well, maybe it’s appropriate that we start pulling some of that money back because I don’t think the American taxpayer wants to pay for the homelessness and criminal element that harm little 23-year-old girls like this who are going home from work.’”
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