The Cost of Leniency: Iryna Zarutska’s Life and a Broken System  

It is hard to describe the overwhelming anger and sadness I felt the first time I saw the video of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska’s murder. She was on her way home from work, riding a light rail train in Charlotte, when she was attacked and killed by Decarlos Brown.

Brown had a history of violent crime, including assaults and robberies, and had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yet he was still free, walking the streets, because of a broken justice system influenced by DEI-inspired ideology that prioritizes politics over public safety.

To make matters worse, the mainstream media was slow to report on the story. When coverage did appear, many outlets failed to even mention Iryna’s name. Instead, the focus shifted to accusations that political conservatives were using the tragedy to criticize the Democratic Party’s leniency on crime. Charlotte’s mayor, Vi Lyles, issued an initial statement that did not mention Iryna at all. Instead, it focused on homelessness and mental health. She said, “We will never arrest our way out of issues such as homelessness and mental health.”

Watching the actual footage, seeing Iryna cry as blood gushed from her neck, passengers walking past her without a word, and hearing Brown coldly (seemingly) say, “I got that white girl,” is enough to make any person’s blood run cold. As a father of a little girl, I could not help but think, what if that were my daughter? I know this much. My daughter will not be riding a train alone in Charlotte, not if I can prevent it.

And what about Iryna’s own father, Stanislav Zarutskyi? He cannot even attend her funeral. As a man of fighting age in Ukraine, he is prohibited from leaving the country during its war with Russia. What must he be feeling, knowing his daughter fled a warzone for safety, only to be senselessly murdered in the United States?

There are many difficult questions in moments like this. Iryna came to America as a refugee because it was supposed to be safer than Ukraine. She was working as a line cook at Zepeddie’s Pizzeria. She was studying English at a community college and dreamed of becoming a veterinary assistant. Why did God allow her life to end in such a tragic and brutal way?

Then there is the broader question. What are we supposed to do in the face of a justice system this broken? We can try to protect our families. But how is it acceptable that someone with a long, violent criminal history and clear mental instability is allowed to roam freely, able to target our most vulnerable at any moment, in any public place?

On my podcast today, I said that the only moral response to the crime crisis in our inner cities must involve a multi-faceted approach. We need increased police presence, real welfare reform, access to low- and middle-skilled jobs, and a deliberate, Christian mission’s effort. People like Brown should feel the weight of moral and social pressure from every direction long before they ever reach the point of committing such evil.

Iryna Zarutska’s death was preventable. But at every level, individuals guided by destructive ideologies made decisions that allowed Brown to remain free. Free to murder a young woman who my own daughter may resemble one day. 

It is right to remind ourselves of God’s sovereignty. It is right to remember our responsibility to protect our families and to work toward a just and orderly society. But in moments like these, it is even more important to remember God’s justice. 

No one truly gets away with anything. 

Not Decarlos Brown, not those who enabled him.

“Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”–Psalm 1:5-6