Silence is worth a thousand op-eds. Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, was stabbed to death on a light rail in North Carolina in late August. The legacy media (so far at least, on Monday) refuses to cough up more than one article informing readers of her death. Democrats, too, are uncharacteristically quiet.
Recently released surveillance footage shows the alleged attacker, 35-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., pulling out a pocket knife moments after Zarutska sits in front of him. The video ends with the attacker looming over an unsuspecting Zarutska, knife raised high above her head. Brown was taken into custody Sept. 4 and charged with first-degree-murder, according to KATV. Brown was out on bail, pending trial for an unrelated case, when he allegedly stabbed Zarutska to death. (RELATED: Trump Speaks Out On Video Of Ukrainian Refugee Being Stabbed On Bus In Charlotte)
Zarutska’s murder is the talk of social media. Posts lamenting her death have racked up millions of impressions on X.
Elon Musk has repeatedly brought the story to the attention of his 225.4 million followers.
Divide by zero ratio https://t.co/vEfjFEfX1R
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2025
Did you know this?
These are just the facts as reported by the government.
One can argue about what the solution may be, but the facts are accurate. https://t.co/iMQIbEQxii
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 8, 2025
Let’s change the law.
Between now and then, name and shame the DAs and judges who enable murder, rape and robbery.
But especially shame those who funded the campaigns of the DAs and judges. That will make the biggest difference. https://t.co/SirIuQcs2S
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 8, 2025
President Donald Trump chimed in too, as did members of his administration.
“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,” Trump said.
“A lunatic just got up and started. It’s right on the tape, not, not really watchable, because it’s so horrible, but just viciously stamped. She’s just sitting there. So they’re evil people. We have to be able to handle that. If we don’t handle that, we don’t have a country,” he added.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke out Monday: “Charlotte’s Mayor doesn’t want the media to show you the ugly truth. Why? Because she and other public officials in her city bear responsibility. This is totally unacceptable! Safety needs to be the top priority of elected officials. Citizens don’t want federal dollars going to public transportation that local leaders refuse to keep safe!”
“The Democrat Party at every level — judges, politicians, academics, nonprofits — is organized around the defense and protection of the criminal, the monstrous and the depraved. The more vile the threat, the more vociferously the Democrat Party works to protect and enable it,” wrote White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, reacting to Brown’s lengthy criminal record.
That record dates back to 2007, according to the Daily Mail. Brown was a minor at the time. That record includes felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats, according to the New York Post.
He served five years in prison for armed robbery. Months after being released, he was arrested for assaulting his sister, reports the Daily Mail. Later that month, he was reportedly arrested for injury to personal property and trespassing. He was arrested yet again in July 2022 for a domestic disturbance, according to multiple reports.
Brown has spent his life communicating he cannot be reformed. That he is more than willing to trample on the law, and other people, when it suits him.
The North Carolina judiciary was apparently indifferent to that danger. Charlotte’s city council, for their part, prefaced discussion of the fatal stabbing with a celebratory cake.
“Cake time is over. Charlotte City Council is now starting its discussion of the fatal stabbing,” wrote reporter Joe Bruno.
Here’s the cake pic.twitter.com/2TIOYdbYWh
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) September 2, 2025
So far, almost all of left-wing media has entirely ignored the story. Zarutska’s murder has received no coverage from the following outlets, as of the morning of Sept. 8.
- The New York Times (NYT)
- The Washington Post
- Reuters
- MSNBC
- NPR
- AP
- PBS
- BBC
Only CNN and Axios saw fit to cover the murder. Sort of.
“Stabbing video fuels MAGA’s crime message,” reads Axios’ headline. Their coverage focuses not on Zarutska’s death, but on “MAGA influencers … drawing repeated attention to violent attacks to elevate the issue of urban crime — and accuse mainstream media of under-covering shocking cases.” (RELATED: ‘This Is Disgusting’: Axios Trots Out ‘GOP Pounces’ Angle In Story About Stabbing Death Of Charlotte Refugee)
It’s a fairly easy accusation to substantiate. The legacy media endlessly litigated George Floyd’s death and Jordan Neely’s death. Their interest in interracial conflict dissipates when a white woman is the obvious and indisputable victim of a black man.
Put yourself in the legacy media’s shoes. There’s no good spin to this story.
Footage shows a savage attack on a tiny girl who didn’t so much as make eye contact with her assailant. To make matters worse for the legacy media, she’s a Ukrainian refugee. To make matters even worse, her alleged murderer is a black man boasting an extensive criminal record.
🚨 UPDATE: Wikipedia editors push to DELETE the killing of Iryna Zarutska by a black male in Charlotte.
WHY?
“An editor has nominated this article for deletion.”
Editors posting things such as “Nothing is remarkable about this.”
They want to memory hole it so you forget. pic.twitter.com/1MYUe1XopS
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 7, 2025
Wikipedia editors are equally eager to bury Zarutska’s murder. Or so it would appear. The “Killing of Iryna Zarutska” Wikipedia page has been nominated for deletion by an editor. An alert at the top of the page notes that the topic “may not meet Wikipedia’s general notability guideline.”
If the brutal murder of an innocent is unremarkable, that should be grave cause for concern to every American.
Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC