“Incapable to proceed”: man who killed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska ruled incompetent
DeCarlos Brown Jr., accused of fatally stabbing 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train in August 2025, has been found mentally incapable of standing trial, according to a court motion filed 7 April in Mecklenburg Superior Court.
A 29 December 2025 report from Central Regional Hospital, a state psychiatric facility in Granville County, concluded that Brown was "incapable to proceed to trial," according to the motion filed by his attorney, Daniel Roberts. The evaluation was ordered after Brown's defense raised concerns about his mental state.
Under North Carolina law, a defendant who cannot understand the nature of the proceedings against him or assist in his own defense cannot be prosecuted — including for a capital offense — though the final determination rests with a judge.
The next procedural step is a competency hearing in Mecklenburg Superior Court, where a judge will rule on whether Brown can stand trial. Roberts noted in the motion that the hearing cannot proceed while Brown remains in federal custody. The defense asked for a six-month continuance of the Rule 24 hearing — the proceeding at which a judge determines whether prosecutors may seek the death penalty. No ruling on that request has been issued.
Federal case also on hold
Brown faces parallel proceedings. In addition to first-degree murder at the state level, he faces a federal charge of committing an act of violence resulting in death on a mass transportation system. Both state and federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
A separate psychological evaluation is underway within the federal prison system, with results expected later in April. If Brown is found incompetent in that process as well, a federal judge must hold a separate capacity hearing. The state case is effectively frozen while the federal matter is unresolved.
From a mental health spiral to a viral killing
Brown, 35, had a documented history of mental illness that records show worsened sharply in the year before Zarutska's death. His criminal record stretched back to 2011, primarily for minor offenses including breaking and entering and shoplifting. His most serious prior conviction was armed robbery, for which he served a 73-month sentence.
By 2024, his interactions with Charlotte-Mecklenburg police pointed to an acute deterioration. On 21 April 2024, officers were dispatched five times in a single night to Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center because Brown — described in a police incident report as a "schizophrenic individual" — kept calling 911. He was later arrested for misusing the emergency line, a misdemeanor. Two weeks later, he was arrested again for the same offense outside Charlotte police headquarters.
In January 2025, Brown told officers he believed "someone had gave him a 'man-made' material that controlled what he ate, walked, talked, etc.," according to a charging document. When police said they could not help him, he called 911 again. That charge remains pending.
Seven months before the attack, Brown was released from custody on a personal recognizance bond — a decision Zarutska's boyfriend publicly criticized.
The attack and its political aftermath
Surveillance cameras captured the attack on 22 August 2025. Zarutska, who had come to the United States from Ukraine fleeing the war, was sitting on public transit looking at her phone when Brown abruptly rose from his seat and stabbed her multiple times in the neck. She died at the scene.
The footage was released publicly in September and went viral, reaching the White House. President Donald Trump invited Zarutska's mother to his State of the Union address in February, where he called Brown a "deranged monster" and claimed he "came through open borders" — a statement The Assembly reports was false, as Brown was born in Charlotte. Elon Musk pledged one million dollars toward murals honoring Zarutska.
The Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation named for Zarutska. Democratic Governor Josh Stein signed it into law. Among its provisions: restrictions on pre-trial release and measures aimed at reviving the state's long-dormant death penalty.
