President Trump condemned Monday the “madman” who stabbed to death a young Ukrainian refugee on a subway car in Charlotte, North Carolina, warning that such “evil people” pose a threat to the nation’s security.
Mr. Trump addressed the Aug. 22 murder of Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old woman who fled Ukraine in search of safety, only to be killed in an apparently random and unprovoked attack on the light rail by an ex-convict with more than a dozen previous arrests.
“I just give my love and hope to the family of the young woman who was stabbed this morning or last night in Charlotte by a madman, a lunatic,” said Mr. Trump in remarks before the administration’s Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible. The president erred on the date of the slaying.
While the attack occurred last month, the horrific crime drew only local media attention until the Charlotte Area Transit System released Friday surveillance footage showing a man who was sitting behind her rise and stab her three times, including at least once in the throat.
Mr. Trump said the man “just got up and started — it’s right on the tape. Not really watchable because it’s so horrible. Just viciously stabs her, she’s just sitting there.”
BREAKING 🚨 President Trump on Iryna Zarutska: “I give my love and hope to the family of the young woman who was stabbed in Charlotte by a madman — a lunatic — while she’s just sitting there. There are evil people. We have to be able to handle that. If we don’t handle that, we… pic.twitter.com/n19ygwvsLV
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) September 8, 2025
Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was arrested at the scene and charged with first-degree murder. He was also treated at a local hospital for a cut on his hand.
The suspect, arrested 14 times previously in Mecklenburg County, had been sentenced in 2015 to six years in prison for robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, and larceny, according to WCNC-TV in Charlotte.
“There are evil people. We have to be able to handle that. If we don’t handle that, we don’t have a country,” Mr. Trump said.
