CHARLOTTE — The recent murder of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee by DeCarlos Brown Jr. on a Charlotte light rail has deeply shaken the community. However, new information reveals that DeCarlos was not the only criminal in his family.
According to a reliable source connected to the family, DeCarlos Brown Jr. is not the only member involved in serious criminal activity. His half-brother, Stacey Dejon Brown, was convicted of a brutal murder in Charlotte on Oct. 23, 2012. At the age of 20, Stacey Dejon shot 65-year-old Robert Heym in the face on Conway Avenue, just as Heym was walking home from work after getting off the light rail, according to WSOC-TV 9 — eerily similar to how Iryna Zarutska was attacked. Stacey Dejon and his accomplice then used the Lynx Light Rail as a getaway from the crime scene.
BREAKING: DeCarlos Brown Jr., who murdered Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, has a half-brother who murdered a 65-year-old man in a 2012 crime spree, a source revealed.
Stacey Dejon Brown pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 27 to 36 years. pic.twitter.com/QLAapsB6zI
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) September 9, 2025
On April 24, 2014, Stacey Dejon Brown, then 22, pled guilty to second-degree murder, two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault with the intention to kill, and breaking or entering a motor vehicle, according to a news release from the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office. He was sentenced to 27 to 36 years in prison.
The charges stemmed from a series of violent crimes in 2012, the news release states. In July 2012, Stacey Dejon Brown and a co-defendant used bricks to break into vehicles in a parking garage. In October 2012, Brown and accomplices robbed a man on West Boulevard at gunpoint; when the victim fled, Brown shot him in the back, causing serious injuries. The following day, Brown and another man confronted Robert Heym, robbed him of his cellphone at gunpoint, and when Heym resisted, Brown shot him at close range, killing him on the spot.
This pattern of violent crime in Stacey’s past highlights a disturbing trend of aggression and armed robbery within the family.
DeCarlos Brown Jr. himself had a criminal record prior to the unprovoked murder of Iryna Zarutska. He was previously jailed for armed robbery and had a history of mental problems, including a schizophrenia diagnosis following an involuntary hold. Yet despite these red flags, he was not effectively monitored or prevented from committing this tragic act of violence. The system failed Iryna Zarutska and Robert Heym, along with all of the other victims of the Browns’ predictable and preventable behavior.
I am heartbroken for the family of Iryna Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence, and I am appalled by the footage of her murder. We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That’s why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained…
— Governor Josh Stein (@NC_Governor) September 8, 2025
Dem Gov. Roy Cooper kept Decarlos Brown Jr. on the streets despite 14 arrests, including for violent crimes.
And of course, George Soros was a major donor to Cooper’s campaign.
Roy Cooper is a pro-criminal, Soros Democrat who cares more about criminals than victims. pic.twitter.com/chTnggsMa5
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) September 8, 2025
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein only addressed Iryna’s murder hours after President Donald Trump sounded off. Stein wrote that the problem is that North Carolina needs “more cops,” citing the death of the Ukrainian woman as an opportunity to pressure the state legislature into passing his budget plan. Even more troubling is Stein’s role in shaping the very justice policies that have weakened public safety. Before Stein was North Carolina’s governor, he was the attorney general from 2017 to 2025.
As attorney general, Stein helped launch initiatives like the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice (TREC), which promotes soft-on-crime reforms under the guise of equity. While the TREC’s goal of “addressing existing policies and procedures that disproportionately affect communities of color” sounds noble in theory, in practice they they’ve emboldened repeat offenders, handcuffed law enforcement, and put innocent lives at risk — like Iryna’s.
DeCarlos Brown Jr. should never have been on that Charlotte light rail. The failures that led to this tragedy go beyond just the Charlotte City Council eating cake or Stein’s convenience campaigning — they are part of a broader political machine that includes former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.
Cooper held the governor’s office before Stein, and he was attorney general before Stein. Both men shaped many of the same policies that weakened public safety and strained law enforcement resources across Charlotte and the state. They are products of the same establishment that prioritized progressive reforms over tough, common-sense crime policies, allowing violent offenders to slip through the cracks time and time again.
Rewarding Roy Cooper with a U.S. Senate seat would only reinforce the broken system. His term as governor failed to stem the rising tide of violent crime, and his administration lit the torch of soft-on-crime policies that Josh Stein carries forward.
DeCarlos Brown Jr. and Stacey Dejon Brown have crime in their blood. Josh Stein and Roy Cooper have blood on their hands. North Carolina deserves leaders who won’t let their blood spill so carelessly.
READ MORE from Julianna Frieman:
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Julianna Frieman is a writer based in North Carolina. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is pursuing her master’s degree in Communications (Digital Strategy) at the University of Florida. Her work has been published by the Daily Caller, The American Spectator, and The Federalist. Follow her on X at @juliannafrieman.