(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Headline USA has obtained the raw surveillance footage of the Aug. 22 incident where Charlotte homeless man Decarlos Brown stabbed a 23-year-old female Ukrainian to death. The footage is horrifically graphic, but can be viewed here for the first time in full.
A clip from the Raw Footage Headline USA has obtained of the Aug. 22 fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee #IrynaZarutska #IRYNA #IrynaZarutskaSayHerName pic.twitter.com/umKoBLUIO5
— Headline USA (@HeadlineUSA) September 9, 2025
The footage shows what’s described in a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department affidavit: Brown, totally unprovoked, stabbed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska three times. He cut his own hand in the process before walking off. Bystanders didn’t react at first, but soon rushed to Zarutska’s side as her life slipped away.
Brown was arrested shortly thereafter. Judge Roy Wiggins signed an order Friday to send Brown to Central Regional Hospital – Butner Campus for 60 days to “determine the defendant’s capacity to proceed.” Judge Wiggins’s order is heavily redacted, making his reasoning for the move unclear.
Headline USA first requested the footage from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department last Tuesday. The police denied the open records request a day later, telling this publication that a court order would be required for its release.
Then, days later, the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) released the footage to local media, which didn’t show the full sequence of events. Headline USA then requested the same footage from CATS, and was told that someone would need to pick up a CD from the authority’s office in downtown Charlotte.
On Tuesday morning, this reporter drove to the CATS office and picked up the CD. Headline USA has blurred out the actual stabbing, as well as Zarutska’s face in the aftermath, out of respect for her and her family.
Zarutska’s death has inflamed racial tensions and sparked a nationwide debate over crime in America. According to local reports, Brown, 34, has a slew of convictions for armed robbery, felony larceny, breaking and entering, and other offenses. Before he allegedly committed murder, his latest crime was misusing 911.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
