Charlotte, North Carolina, has set off a deadly knife attack on Ukrainian refugees, sparked a federal investigation and warned that the city could lose millions of dollars in transit funds.
“If the mayor cannot ensure the safety of trains and buses, they should not get taxpayers’ money,” Sean Duffy, secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said in a statement.
The victim, 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, was stabbed to death on August 22 and authorities have been described as an unprovoked attack. The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr, 34, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
The graphic video of The Killing released Friday inspired debates on the crime rate in the United States.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in an article on X that his agency has been investigating “Day One” but has not provided more details. The FBI declined to comment on Tuesday.
Ms. Zarutska’s home country has widely reported the case, with news media covering shock and grief over the killings and pointing to the ongoing debate in the United States.
Ms. Zarutska fled the Ukrainian war with her mother and siblings in 2022, and her family wrote in an online prosecutor that she “quickly embraced her new life in the United States” and was a “talented and passionate artist.”
The scenes of the brutal attack on Ms. Zarutska on the Charlotte train have sparked widespread debate on social media.
While the U.S. crime rate remains below its peak in its pandemic era, critics have seized on the case to highlight judicial releases, and the focus on the killings in many left-leaning media outlets.
Republicans and conservative commentators questioned why Brown was free, despite a broad criminal history, according to state records, including dangerous weapons, theft and robbery convictions of vandalism and entry.
Other right-wing influencers said the crime was racially motivated and claimed that the suspect commented on the victim’s race.
The suspect is black and Zarutska is white, but authorities have not outlined the motive and Brown has not been charged with a hate crime.
Brown reportedly was homeless and suffering from mental health problems, and his mother told local TV stations that she was trying to work involuntarily on a psychiatric hospital after he became violent.
In January, he was arrested after repeatedly calling the hospital’s 911 emergency hotline, but was later released.
Charlotte’s bustling city has received millions of dollars in federal transport funds – about $50 million (£37 million) in 2023 – covering about 12% of its shipping operations budget, more than half of its capital cost.
“I can’t get money out of their transit system today, and I actually have to do an investigation, and that’s what the law requires,” Duffy told Fox News. “I promise all viewers that if I find something I want to find, they won’t use your public taxes to their public transportation system. Zero, None, Nada.”
“The tragic failure of the court and the district judge” and promised to increase public transportation for patrol and police personnel, Democrat VI Lyles said in a statement.
A spokesman for former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper called the killing “heartbreaking, mean evil behavior” and told politicians that Republicans support funding cuts to local and state law enforcement.
“We need more police to keep people safe,” said Josh Stein, a Democratic Governor of North Carolina, in a social media article.
With the coverage of Kyiv’s Anastasiia Levchenko
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