President Trump on Tuesday called for stricter law enforcement measures in the wake of a slew of horrific and senseless black on white murders.
The gut-wrenching murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month, in particular, has captured the attention of the president, who condemned the attack as a preventable tragedy resulting from weak Democrat criminal justice policies.
Zarutska, 23, was brutally stabbed on the neck by Decarlos Brown Jr., a homicidal maniac with an extensive criminal history, while riding on a Charlotte light rail train on August 22, 2025.
The president said it’s time “to stop this madness,” adding that he stands with victims and law-abiding citizens, while Democrats side with criminals, gang members, and thugs.
“For far too long, Americans have been forced to put up with Democrat-run cities that set loose savage, bloodthirsty criminals to prey on innocent people—really very, very innocent people,” Trump said in a White House video, Tuesday. “In every place they control, radical left judges, politicians, and activists have adopted a policy of catch and release for thugs and killers,” Trump continued.
“In Charlotte North Carolina, we saw the results of these policies when a 23-year-old woman who came here from Ukraine met her bloody end on a public train,” Trump lamented. “She was slaughtered by a deranged monster who was roaming free after 14 prior arrests.”
North Carolina Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes had granted the release of Brown following his arrest in January based upon a “written promise” that the mentally deranged repeat offender would return for his court hearing, CBS Austin reported.
Brown, 34, was arrested January 19 for “misuse of the 911 system.” He had called 911 in the middle of police officers conducting a welfare check on him. During the encounter, Brown, diagnosed with schizophrenia, told officers that he believed there was “man-made” materials inside his body controlling his eating, walking and talking.
He had dialed 911 while the officers were talking to him, prompting them to arrest him on the spot. Brown was reportedly charged with a Misdemeanor Class 1.
Prior to his January arrest, Brown was arrested at least 14 times for offenses ranging from possession of a firearm by felon and robbery with dangerous weapon. In 2014, Brown was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery with a dangerous firearm. He was also arrested for physically assaulting his sister.
His misdemeanor case was still pending when he stabbed Zaruska in the neck on the light rail train in Charlotte. The young woman had just finished her work shift at Subway and was headed home.
“We cannot allow a depraved criminal element of violent repeat offenders to continue spreading destruction and death throughout our country. We have to respond with force and strength. We have to be vicious, just like they are. It’s the only thing they understand,” Trump said in his statement from the Oval Office.
“The capital of America was a bloodthirsty, horrible, dangerous place. One of the worst,” he added. “And now it’s a crime-free city and we’re going to keep it that way.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the president’s sentiments during the White House briefing Tuesday, describing Brown as a “savage career criminal.” Leavitt said Zarutska’s death was preventable and that Brown should have been behind bars.
Leavitt described Zarutska as a “beautiful, innocent young woman” who sought safety in the U.S. but was murdered by a “savage career criminal” with at least 14 prior arrests, including for armed robbery and felony larceny.
Leavitt stated that the public transportation system in Charlotte was “more dangerous than the war zone” Zarutska had fled.
She criticized Stokes for releasing Brown without bail, calling it a failure of the justice system and accusing Democrats of prioritizing “woke” policies over public safety. She also pointed out that the judge was a “strong supporter” of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Leavitt also highlighted President Trump’s executive order targeting jurisdictions with cashless bail policies, framing Zarutska’s death as evidence of the need for stricter law enforcement policies.
She displayed the horrifying surveillance footage and a photo of Zarutska, calling the attack “pure evil on display.”
A number of other shocking black-on white murders and beatings have appalled the nation in recent weeks, including the double homicide of an elderly couple in Queens, New York, by a career criminal out on parole, the stabbing murder of a 25-year-old woman by another career criminal at a Chicago train station, the black on white beatdown in Cincinnati, the fatal stabbing of a white student at a high school track meet in Texas, the murder of a retired veterinarian professor on Sunday while walking her dog in an Alabama park, the home invasion murder of a 22-year-old college student in North Carolina by a repeat offender, the rape of a four-year-old child in by a repeat offender in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, (which exposed the child to a sexually transmitted disease), the murder of a father of three in Massachusetts over graffiti, and the savage beating of a toddler at a Georgia daycare center.
“The Democrat Party’s policy of mass releasing monsters onto our streets is a form of political terrorism,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller stated on X.