A group of North Carolina congressmen urged Gov. Josh Stein to deploy the National Guard into Charlotte over a “growing violence crisis” that has the city’s understaffed police force on the defensive.
Reps. Mark Harris, Pat Harrigan and Chuck Edwards, all Republicans, penned the letter Wednesday to Mr. Stein, a Democrat, in which they said a spate of killings, shootings and muggings have overwhelmed Charlotte’s cops.
The city witnessed eight killings in a week, and the murder rate in uptown Charlotte is 200% higher than it was a year ago, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police. The union also reported increases in commercial and street robberies and weapon assaults throughout 2025.
“Governor Stein is deaf to the desperate pleas of Charlotte’s police and residents,” Mr. Harris said in a statement to WBT News. “He refuses reinforcements to crush the violent crime surge — exposing him and his party as pro-crime Democrats who coddle criminals while ignoring victims.
“That’s why my colleagues and I are fighting for millions of North Carolinians, demanding we reclaim the Queen City. Governor Stein: Stop stalling — send in the Guard now.”
The lawmakers said the National Guard would help an understaffed Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department that’s busy rearresting the same criminals over and over.
The letter mentioned the 14 prior arrests of Decarlos Brown Jr., the suspect accused in the caught-on-camera fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in August.
The video so jarred President Trump that he called for the death penalty against the suspect. Brown, who served a stint in prison on an armed robbery conviction, faces federal charges that could result in him being put to death.
The North Carolina lawmakers also mentioned the 50 arrests of Herbert Jordan, who was charged with assaulting a woman before his latest instance in handcuffs. A judge let Jordan post a $5,000 bond and be released from jail.
And the congressmen brought up the 111 arrests that a 15-year-old boy racked up over a two-year period. Police said the teenager was linked to 55 car thefts and 45 car break-ins. The boy is still not behind bars, the lawmakers said.
“It is no wonder that our officers feel overextended,” the congressmen wrote. “Until our judicial system ensures criminals are held accountable, there is a compelling case to deter violence through a visible, stabilizing presence such as the National Guard.”
The letter highlighted the success of National Guard deployments elsewhere.
The District of Columbia saw violent crime plummet after Mr. Trump declared a monthlong crime emergency there. In Memphis, Tennessee, a federal law enforcement surge featuring National Guard troops has netted more than 1,700 arrests during its first month.
Daniel Redford, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg union, first pleaded for the troop support last month when speaking with local media.
He said city police are short roughly 300 officers, slowing 911 response times throughout Charlotte.
“What is most concerning is that city leaders, many of whom have served multiple terms, have failed to foresee these police shortages and build the ranks of CMPD at a time when attrition was manageable,” Mr. Redford told The Charlotte Observer. “The officers of CMPD are now tasked with the burden of their failures, and they grow more and more exhausted as each day passes.”
