A 23-year-old Ukrainian girl named Iryna Zarutska fled her war-torn country to the US hoping for a safe and peaceful life. However, the young girl from Ukraine was stabbed to death by accused identified as a 34-year-old black man named Decarlos Brown Jr., at a train station in the US’s North Carolina on 22nd August 2025.
The disturbing incident sent shockwaves on social media. However, the US mainstream media remained silent over the brutal murder as if nothing had happened, or perhaps, it was too ‘normal’ a crime to warrant coverage.
Iryna Zarutksa was stabbed multiple times with a knife by Decarlos Brown Jr. and was pronounced dead the East/West Boulevard light rail station in South End, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said.
Serial criminal Decarlos Brown has been arrested fourteen times in the past
The accused has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Decarlos Brown is a serial offender and has been arrested around fourteen times since 2011 for felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats. He even served five years in prison for the robbery with a deadly weapon charge.
The murderer of Iryna Zarutska had been arrested FOURTEEN TIMES before.
It’s beyond ridiculous that this monster had not yet been permanently locked up.
The state is partly responsible for her death. pic.twitter.com/R76y2yYFKU
— iamyesyouareno (@iamyesyouareno) September 6, 2025
In addition, he also faces charges for misusing the 911 system. He once dialled the police and asked them to investigate a “man-made material” inside him. The police, however, said that he has a medical issue and they could not help him. Several past charges against him have been dropped by courts.
Mainstream media’s selective silence questioned by people
The video of the incident went viral online and in no time, social media dug up the accused person’s criminal antecedents. The Ukrainian girl’s killing, the dropping of previous charges against Brown and the American legacy media’s silence has sparked severe backlash on social media.
“The media silence on Iryna Zarutska’s murder is one of the most disgusting acts of lying by omission I’ve ever seen. From the people who gave you the Daniel Penny wall-to-wall negative coverage and the BLM moral panic. It’s true what they say: you don’t hate the media enough,” an X user wrote.
The media silence on Iryna Zarutska’s murder is one of the most disgusting acts of lying by omission I’ve ever seen.
From the people who gave you the Daniel Penny wall-to-wall negative coverage and the BLM moral panic.
It’s true what they say: you don’t hate the media enough.
— Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) September 8, 2025
Another one wrote, “If it weren’t for 𝕏, I never would have heard of Iryna Zarutska. Fuck legacy media.”
If it weren’t for 𝕏, I never would have heard of Iryna Zarutska. Fuck legacy media. pic.twitter.com/xGOF1rq26s
— Tiffany Fong (@TiffanyFong_) September 7, 2025
One X user ‘End Wokeness’ named major legacy media outlets of America and highlighted how none of the covered the brutal killing of the Ukrainian girl. “0 AP stories on this deadly attack 0 PBS stories on this deadly attack 0 NYT stories on this deadly attack 0 NPR stories on this deadly attack 0 WSJ stories on this deadly attack 0 BBC stories on this deadly attack 0 CNN stories on this deadly attack 0 WAPO stories on this deadly attack 0 Reuters stories on this deadly attack 0 MSNBC stories on this deadIy attack,” the X user wrote.
0 AP stories on this deadly attack
0 PBS stories on this deadly attack
0 NYT stories on this deadly attack
0 NPR stories on this deadly attack
0 WSJ stories on this deadly attack
0 BBC stories on this deadly attack
0 CNN stories on this deadly attack
0 WAPO stories on this… pic.twitter.com/962qmFOBNm— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 7, 2025
Meanwhile, X owner and billionaire, Elon Musk, also criticised the judges who dropped charges against accused Decarlos in previous cases. “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,” Musk wrote.
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
In another post, Musk called out the American legacy media over a lack of coverage of the Iryna Zarutska’s killing. He reshared a post counting how many articles the outlets had written about the stabbing, and commented, “Zero.”
Notably, it remains unclear why the US’s mainstream media decided to skip covering this important crime news even as foreign media covered it. It is being alleged that the silence stemmed from the racial profile of the victim and the killer. The accused murderer is a homeless black man with a criminal record, while the deceased victim was a white refugee girl.
Meanwhile, Charlotte city mayor, Vi Lyles, published an X post on 6th September, thanking media outlets for not sharing the footage of the Ukrainian refugee’s brutal murder. Netizens called her out for appearing to be more concerned about the video the incident not reaching the public instead of taking strict action against the accused and those judges who allowed him on the streets despite facing multiple criminal charges.
You sound more angry towards people sharing the footage than you are towards the violent thug who stabbed Iryna.
Bizarre.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 6, 2025
Many suspect an emerging pattern, as a Ukrainian girl was pushed under train in Germany’s Friedland city by an Iraqi migrant recently. The 16-year-old Ukrainian refugee was hit by a train traveling about 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) after a 31-year-old Iraqi citizen allegedly shoved her onto the tracks, Kyiv Independent reported, adding that he allegedly suffered from Schizophrenia.
Race of the victim and criminal more important than the severity of the crime?
For the US legacy media, it seems that racial dynamics play a vital role in deciding whether a particular incident of crime deserves coverage or not. Perhaps, they feared that the accused black man’s racial identity coupled with his extensive criminal record and the deceased victim’s white race and refugee status would be highlighted by ‘right wing’ social media, and news outlets. Progressive agenda takes precedence over reporting the crime.
Had the victim been a black person and the killer a white, the entire legacy media would have outraged, opinion pieces on how ‘white supremacism’ and hatred is turning violent would have been published, and street protests would have erupted by now, as seen during BLM Movement years back and the same media outlets would have given it 24×7 coverage.