President Donald Trump on Monday reacted to the fatal stabbing of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee that happened last month in Charlotte, North Carolina, saying that the U.S. must act against "evil people" for the good of the country.
Trump mentioned the stabbing of Iryna Zarutska on the city’s light rail train during remarks at the Museum of the Bible.
"We're all people of religion, but there are evil people," Trump said. "And we have to confront that. I just give my love and hope to the family of the young woman who was stabbed this morning or last night in Charlotte by a madman."
The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, was arrested shortly after the stabbing and hospitalized before being arrested on a charge of first-degree murder.
CHILLING VIDEO SHOWS MOMENTS BEFORE UKRAINIAN REFUGEE STABBED TO DEATH ON CHARLOTTE LIGHT RAIL
President Donald Trump speaks at a hearing of the Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Washington. Trump called the suspect in the stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska aboard Charlotte's light rail train a "lunatic" and a "madman." (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
"A lunatic just got up and started," Trump said of the suspect. "It's right on tape. Not really watchable because it's so horrible, but just viciously stabbed. She's just sitting there."
Surveillance footage showing the moment before a young Ukrainian woman was stabbed to death in a random attack on the Lynx Blue Line on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (NewsNation via Charlotte Area Transit System)
The surveillance footage, recently released by the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), shows Zarutska boarding the Lynx Bline line just after 9:45 p.m. on Aug. 22. She is seen wearing a pizzeria uniform while scrolling on her phone. A man in a red hoodie is seen sitting behind her.
Around four minutes later, the footage shows the man pulling out a knife and stabbing Zarutska three times, including at least once in the neck. Authorities later pronounced her dead at the scene.
Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska came to the U.S. to escape war but was stabbed to death in Charlotte on Aug. 22. (EVGENIYA RUSH on GoFundMe)
The video shows the suspect walking through the rail car, taking off his sweatshirt, and waiting by the doors as passengers look on.
"So they're evil people," Trump said. "We have to be able to handle that. If we don't handle that, we don't have a country."
Records obtained by The New York Post showed that Brown has a history of arrests going back more than a decade, including charges of felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats. Police said Brown and Zarutska did not know each other and the attack had been random.
Trump noted other recent killings in the U.S., saying that actions, like his administration’s push to end cashless bail, must be taken.
"This cashless bail started a wave in our country where a killer kills somebody and is out on the street by the afternoon and, in many cases, going out and killing again, cashless bail," Trump said.
Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and Emma Bussey contributed to this report.