Charlotte’s Mayor downplays role in Iryna Zaruska’s murder

CHARLOTTE: The tragic death of Iryna Zaruska, a Ukrainian refugee murdered aboard a Charlotte light-rail train, has raised significant concerns about the city’s failure to address the mental health crisis that allowed the crime to unfold.

However, Charlotte’s mayor, Vi Lyles, downplayed the responsibility of the city and instead focused on vague commentary about “society safety nets” and mental health care issues.

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Lyles described the murder as “a tragic situation that sheds light on problems with society safety nets related to mental health care,” but such euphemistic statements fail to address the deeper issue: Charlotte’s repeated failure to confine a dangerous individual, allowing him to continue threatening the public.

An article by the New York Post shed more light at the incident. It said that the alleged perpetrator, Decarlos Brown Jr, is a schizophrenic with a history of violent and erratic behavior. After serving a five-year sentence for armed robbery, Brown’s mental health deteriorated.

His mother reported that his behavior became increasingly bizarre and violent in 2020, even resulting in an assault on his sister. Despite this, Brown was briefly evaluated and then released. His condition worsened, and after being kicked out of his mother’s home due to his instability, he was left homeless and untreated.

In 2024, Brown was encountered by police on three separate occasions and referred to “resources” – a vague term that failed to provide real help. In January 2025, after a welfare check, Brown claimed that “man-made materials” in his body were controlling him, a clear sign of paranoid delusions. Despite his escalating mental health crisis, he was allowed to remain free.

The legal system compounded this issue. After an incident in which Brown misused the 911 system, he was released on a promise to return for a hearing, only for the forensic evaluation ordered by a judge to go unfulfilled. His mental instability was not a secret—his family and police were aware of it. Yet, Brown was allowed to remain untreated and at large.

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Mayor Lyles, in her statement, referred to Brown’s ongoing mental health struggles as a “crisis,” but this framing overlooks the reality of the situation: Brown was in a state of continuous crisis that, due to a lack of intervention, led to the death of an innocent woman.