At a press conference Tuesday, United States Attorney Russ Ferguson of the Western District of North Carolina sharply denied that the filing of federal charges against the accused killer of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was “grandstanding.”
Zarutska was stabbed to death Aug. 22 on a Charlotte light rail train while returning home from work by DeCarlos Brown, a man with a lengthy criminal history who was charged with violating 18 USC 1992, a terrorism statute that makes it a federal crime to use a dangerous weapon to cause death or injury on a mass transit system. Ferguson had explained during the press conference that his office moved “quite fast” compared to normal cases to charge Brown and that there was a possibility hate crime charges could be added to the terrorism charge before a reporter asked whether politics played a role.
“I don’t see how you would see this case as political grandstanding. And if you do, you should have the conversation we just had with Iryna’s family, because there’s nothing political about that,” Ferguson said. “This is a heinous crime, and we are going to remedy it.”
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“I don’t know what the politics is here. If this was a political grandstand there would be an opposite side to this,” he added. “Is the opposite side let’s allow murders on our light rail? Is the other side let’s let people out of state prison so they can commit other crimes? There’s no other side to this. There’s no politics to this. This is a pure and simple federal case.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge James Barnacle of the Charlotte Field Office also took exception to the reporter’s comments, saying that the agents were following policy set by FBI Director Kash Patel.
“I don’t think anybody can debate this woman was violently murdered on the train,” Barnacle said. “Director Patel has changed the priorities of the FBI to address violent crime, a scourge in our cities and countries by cartels, transnational criminal organizations and local street gangs. We have put resources to those matters. We anticipate more and more cases to be charged across North Carolina in the violent crimes space.”
“The brutal attack on Iryna Zarutska was a disgraceful act that should never happen in America,” Patel posted on X Tuesday. “The @FBI immediately surged into action to ensure justice is served and to make clear that violent criminals will never be allowed to walk free again. President Trump is committed to restoring safety to every American city, and I want to thank @AGPamBondi for delivering the federal charges that will hold this perpetrator accountable.”
Patel also reposted comments that Attorney General Pam Bondi made on X that hinted that federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty.
“Iryna Zarutska was a young woman living the American dream — her horrific murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people,” Bondi posted. “I have directed my attorneys to federally prosecute DeCarlos Brown Jr., a repeat violent offender with a history of violent crime, for murder. We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable crime, and he will never again see the light of day as a free man.”
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