Suspect in fatal N.C. train stabbing of Ukrainian refugee is charged with federal crime

The man accused of fatally stabbing a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte Area Transit System train in North Carolina last month has been charged with a federal crime

The man accused of fatally stabbing a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte Area Transit System train in North Carolina last month has been charged with a federal crime.

Decarlos Brown Jr. is accused of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system in the Aug. 22 stabbing, according to the Justice Department.

The victim, whom police identified as Iryna Zarutska, had recently come to the United States from Ukraine to escape the war with Russia, according to her family. Zarutska started working immediately after she got her work permit, helping at a senior citizens center and a pizza place and taking care of neighborhood animals, James Barnacle, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Division, said at a news briefing Tuesday afternoon.

A statement from her family's lawyer, Lauren O. Newton, said Zarutska was "kind and hardworking" and deeply loved by family and close friends.

"Iryna came here to find peace and safety, and instead her life was stolen from her in the most horrific way," a family spokesperson said in the statement.