The video of 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly stabbing and killing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month was released on Friday, and the viral debate it sparked also gave rise to several GoFundMe campaigns.
Not for Zarutska, mind you. For the man accused of killing her.
According to the Washington Examiner, while the fundraising platform has taken those fundraisers down, the fact that they were multiple campaigns that sprung up to take donations for Brown — who had 14 previous court cases and was out despite a judge ordering a mental evaluation on him due to a charge levied in January — raised questions on social media about the grift and grievance associated with the case.
Brown, who is black, is reported to have killed Zarutska, a white Ukrainian war refugee, without apparent reason on Aug. 22.
The video of the stabbing showed him visibly emotional and uncomfortable in his seat on the Charlotte light rail when Zarutska came on and sat in front of him. She was looking at her phone when he stood up and apparently took out a pocket knife, then allegedly proceeded to stab her several times in the throat.
Brown was found at the scene with injuries that weren’t life-threatening. He’s facing a first-degree murder charge. According to Axios, “Even Brown’s mother has blamed the courts for allowing her son to be out in the community.”
“Brown was released from jail without bond in January for misusing 911. He claimed he was given ‘man-made’ material, controlling when he ate, walked and talked,” the outlet reported.
“In July, Brown’s public defender questioned his ability to proceed in his court case. The judge ordered a forensic evaluation, which was never done,” the report added.
So, naturally, we got GoFundMe campaigns “to stop the injustice against Decarlos Brown Jr,” among other things:
WARNING: The following video contains images of violence that some viewers may find disturbing.
In Charlotte, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr, a homeless man with a criminal history, allegedly stabbed and killed 22-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in a brutal attack
What type of sick human being would already give money to this monster? ???? GoFundMe should be ashamed pic.twitter.com/otYLVNe9Yo
— Sumit (@SumitHansd) September 8, 2025
There’s no peaceful solution to this pic.twitter.com/84xNgH8jNW
— Aesthetica (@Anc_Aesthetics) September 7, 2025
“While what happened on the Blue Line was a tragedy what we mustn’t lose sight of is the fact that Decarlos Brown JR was failed categorically by the Judicial system and the Mental Health Services of North Carolina and as such is not entirely to blame for what happened,” a screenshot of one of the fundraisers read.
Why are you lying scumbag? pic.twitter.com/LjtH9UEezd
— Aesthetica (@Anc_Aesthetics) September 7, 2025
Another noted that this fundraiser seemed to use the mugshot of another offender for the attempt to “raise funds for his legal defense and hope to avoid punitive sentencing,” and there seemed to be no trace of him online:
This is odd. The fund raiser was apparently started by a man called Ryan Nicholas wrangham, but the picture used is a mugshot from a man called Sean harry reilly, who was convicted of attempted ???? in 2020. What’s going on? https://t.co/9WyV5Gc0FU pic.twitter.com/CkjsGrRE4T
— Hina Archive ???? (@loumig54321) September 7, 2025
???? BREAKING: GoFundMe titled “Raise funds to stop the injustice against Decarlos Brown Jr” has just been launched.
So far, no trace of the organizer online, could be a fake account trying to scam people riding the wave of social media attention. pic.twitter.com/jD2RnmvhWS
— I Meme Therefore I Am ???????? (@ImMeme0) September 7, 2025
Whatever the case, it seems like there was little raised before the campaigns got everyone’s attention:
I’ve reported both fundraisers currently still listed for DeCarlos and recommend others do the same. They currently have zero donations.
Scroll down to “report fundraiser” and follow the steps.
Here are the two links:https://t.co/2KvMgXJxNChttps://t.co/HFVuSb3IUO pic.twitter.com/3B713itT2A
— Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) September 7, 2025
It’s also unclear whether this is parody, grift, or a straight-up attempt to at wrongheaded social justice. In fact, over the past decade or so, it’s become impossible to tell those things apart.
What is clear, however, is that these fundraisers ran afoul of GoFundMe’s guidelines and that, on the same day the outrage started, the fundraisers were shut down.
“GoFundMe’s Terms of Service explicitly prohibit fundraisers that raise money for the legal defense of anyone formally charged with an alleged violent crime. Consistent with this long-standing policy, this fundraiser has been removed from the platform and the donors who contributed to the fundraiser have been fully refunded,” a GoFundMe spokesperson told the Examiner.
It’s again unclear how much was donated; neither the Examiner nor Newsweek, which also reported on the fundraisers, seemed to have a dollar amount of how much was given when they were shuttered.
The fact that anyone donated to these campaigns should come as no surprise, however. When you think of the transparent grift of BLM — “build larger mansions,” it became pejoratively known as — it’s only a step away from reflexively giving cash to cause for a career criminal whose actions were blamed on systemic injustice.
After all, why not? Who cares where the cash is going? It certainly isn’t going to Brown, as anyone who’s paid attention to the case or the race-grievance racket should immediately grasp. It also isn’t going to any organization that will fix the problem. Thankfully, GoFundMe stopped it from further engorging the amply-lined pockets of faux-SJWs who’ll make a buck off of anything. The fact it even could should worry us deeply, as it’s the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the woke mind virus.
Also thankfully, it’s worth noting that the GoFundMe for Zarutska’s family is actually going strong, with almost all of its $80,000 goal raised. If you have a few dollars and you want to show the left that the scam of social-justice guilt money is officially done for, that’d be a pretty worthy cause to donate it toward.
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