Media finally notices brutal Iryna Zarutska murder, blames MAGA for caring 

The national mainstream media is finally paying some attention to the brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old woman who escaped war-torn Ukraine only to be stabbed to death on public transportation in Charlotte, N.C., last month. The alleged killer, Decarlos Brown, is a schizophrenic man who had been arrested 14 times and previously incarcerated for five years. 

The horrifying attack was captured on surveillance camera. 

In the footage, Brown can be seen sitting behind Zarutska. He stands up, and without warning or provocation, stabs her repeatedly in the neck, killing her. 

The footage was shared widely on social media, where it drew significant interest — horror, and shock — from many people, including conservative commentators who see this incident as an example of the violent crime problem in predominantly blue cities. 

It’s also an example of the media’s double standard. When Daniel Penny, a white former Marine, intervened on a subway train in New York City to stop a mentally ill black man, Jordan Neely, who was threatening commuters and had previously assaulted three women on the subway, and accidentally killed him while restraining him in a chokehold, it became a major national news story, sparking widespread protesting among leftwing activists. Penny was eventually acquitted of manslaughter — many of his fellow passengers testified at his trial that Neely was threatening them, and they were relieved that Penny had the courage to act. 

Unfortunately, no one on the train with Iryna Zarutska could have prevented Decarlos Brown from suddenly, without any warning, viciously attacking and killing her. The ability to protect the public from Brown ended when he was released back onto the streets. More on that in a minute. 

This murder took place more than two weeks ago and garnered almost zero national news coverage, even though it’s a very similar — though completely reversed — situation from the Daniel Penny case. But now conservatives are talking about it, and President Trump has weighed in, and the mainstream has been cajoled into covering it. You can guess exactly what they are saying: We are going with a textbook “conservatives pounced” framing, in which the story is not the story itself but that conservative people care about the story.  

Cue Axios, which describes the story thus: “The gruesome video of the fatal knife attack on Iryna Zarutska on a light-rail car in Charlotte is drawing attention from MAGA influencers seeking to elevate the issue of violent urban crime — and accuse mainstream media of under-covering shocking cases.” Their headline: “Stabbing video fuels MAGA’s crime message.” 

The tone is one of feeling inconvenienced — i.e., it’s so annoying that conservatives are pointing out that people are being murdered. Seriously. 

Here was CNN’s Brian Seltzer focusing on what he finds vexing about this story: “I have to say, some of the comments around the story are baldly racist, stoking fear of African Americans because this man attacked a white woman. The open racism on sites like X today, it’s eye-popping, but there are also legitimate questions about this so-called career criminal, someone who had been a repeat offender. And those questions, I hope they’re not lost amid all the cesspool comments on social media.” 

Thankfully, local reporters Joe Bruno and Hunt Saenz did some terrific reporting, and actually interviewed the mother of the suspect.  

According to Bruno, Brown’s mother “is not making excuses for her son. She says ‘what he did was atrocious, it was horrible and it was wrong.’ The point of her speaking isn’t to make her son out to be a victim. He’s not. She says she wanted to speak about the arrest to highlight how the system failed and things got to this point.” 

So here’s some relevant information: Brown was arrested 14 times for a variety of offenses, and was sentenced to five years in prison for armed robbery. He served that time and was released. Afterward, he returned home to live this his mother, who reports that he was unstable and psychotic. She had him involuntarily committed, and he was even diagnosed with schizophrenia. But after two weeks, the courts released him. She refused to let him return home, and he became homeless. He began making erroneous calls to 911, and had subsequent interactions with the police in which they attempted to get him mental health resources. Unfortunately, voluntary mental health treatments are not going to keep a determined psychotic person off the streets.  

Reacting to the murder, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, writes on X: “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 police officers. I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so they can stop these horrific crimes and hold violent criminals accountable.” 

But what this case really highlights is the need for coercive mental health options. And it breaks my libertarian heart to say it, but it’s true: We need to keep dangerous, mentally ill people locked up, if not in prison than at least in institutions where they can’t hurt themselves or innocent bystanders. 

Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.