The horrific murder of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail system has taken an even more disturbing turn with the release of new video footage that captures not just the senseless attack itself, but the equally troubling response of fellow passengers who witnessed her final moments.
Most people have already seen the original footage that was released, showing Zarutska quietly minding her own business before Decarlos Brown Jr., a 34-year-old career criminal whose rap sheet stretches back over a decade, stabbed her.
That earlier video showed Brown walking around afterward, knife still dripping blood across the train floor like some scene from a horror movie, saying, “I got that white girl.”
What we knew then was bad enough — Brown attacked this innocent woman without any provocation or interaction between them, a random act of violence that should never have been possible. Brown was walking free without bail after a January arrest and was supposed to be awaiting trial when he decided to commit murder instead. This is exactly the kind of revolving-door justice system that puts dangerous predators back on the streets to prey on law-abiding citizens. Brown had no business being anywhere near that train, let alone carrying a knife and looking for his next victim.
The newly released footage adds three layers of horror to an already nightmarish situation.
You can watch it below, but I should warn you, it’s disturbing to watch.
🚨 HORRIFIC: New video has just been released showing what happened moments after Iryna Zarutska was stabbed on a Charlotte train
Not ONE PERSON helped her as she began bleeding out, before eventually dying.
Absolutely SICKENING.
These people should be ASHAMED of themselves. pic.twitter.com/KEnhgqZxFZ
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 9, 2025
First, we actually see the moment Brown plunges the knife into Zarutska. Second, we witness her shocked, confused reaction as she tries to process what just happened to her. But perhaps most disturbing of all, we watch as other passengers simply abandon her in her moment of desperate need.
If you watched the video, your blood will boil. After Brown stabs Zarutska and walks away, a male passenger quickly leaves, not to pursue justice or call for help, but apparently to escape the scene. Then, a woman sitting across from Zarutska glances over, sees her in distress, and decides her best move is to get up and leave too. Nobody rushes to help. Nobody applies pressure to the wound. It’s hard to tell if anyone could see that she’d been stabbed, but no one appears to have asked her if she was okay.
Would immediate assistance have saved Zarutska’s life? We’ll never know for certain, but basic human decency demanded that someone try. Instead, the passengers on that train treated her like a problem to be avoided rather than a person in desperate need of help.
Watching the chilling footage of her murder, it’s impossible not to imagine how different things might have been if someone like Daniel Penny had been there. Zarutska was left alone and helpless after being stabbed, while Penny, a Navy veteran and EMT, had previously stepped in without hesitation when a deranged man threatened passengers on the New York subway, putting himself at risk to protect strangers.
In a moment when simple human compassion could have made a life-or-death difference, people looked the other way. This isn’t just a story about one horrific attack; it’s a reflection of a culture increasingly numb to violence and indifferent to suffering.
Watching Zarutska’s final moments, it’s hard not to see this as a mirror of a society that too often allows tragedy to unfold without taking action to prevent it.
The cowardice we witnessed on that Charlotte train isn’t an isolated incident—it’s the rotting foundation of a society that breeds predators like Decarlos Brown Jr. and abandons victims like Iryna Zarutska. While the mainstream media sanitizes these stories, PJ Media delivers the unvarnished truth about America’s moral collapse. Join PJ Media VIP with promo code FIGHT for 60% off and get exclusive content that exposes what they’re hiding. Don’t wait, join today.
