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President Donald Trump said that “blood is on the hands of the Democrats” after the brutal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee in Charlotte, North Carolina, who was attacked and killed on a light rail train by a man with a lengthy criminal history last month.
Social media exploded over the weekend after surveillance footage, released by the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), showed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska boarding a Lynx Blue line last month before a man pulled out a knife and began stabbing Zarutska three times, including at least once in the neck.
“The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife, and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including Former Disgraced Governor and ‘Wannabe Senator’ Roy Cooper,” Trump said on Truth Social. “North Carolina, and every State, needs LAW AND ORDER, and only Republicans will deliver it! Additionally, where is the outrage from the Mainstream Media on this horrible tragedy? VOTE FOR MICHAEL WHATLEY FOR UNITED STATES SENATE, HE WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!”
GOFUNDME PULLS FUNDRAISERS FOR FELON ACCUSED OF KILLING COMMUTER IN RANDOM CHARLOTTE TRAIN ATTACK
Earlier in the day, the White House posted reaction from Trump on X.com, saying, “The perpetrator was a well known career criminal, who had been previously arrested and released on CASHLESS BAIL in January, a total of 14 TIMES. What the hell was he doing riding the train, and walking the streets? Criminals like this need to be LOCKED UP.”
The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, was arrested shortly after the stabbing and hospitalized before being arrested on a charge of first-degree murder. Records obtained by The New York Post showed that Brown has a history of arrests going back more than a decade, including charges of felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon and communicating threats. Police said Brown did not know Zarutska and the attack was random.
By taking aim at the Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Trump directly injected the tragedy into the center of the upcoming U.S. senate race in North Carolina, slated for next year. Cooper and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley are the two major front-runners.
On Monday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) echoed Trump’s argument, insisting Cooper’s policies “kept violent criminals like this on the streets instead of in jail where they belong.”
Meanwhile, Whatley said in a X post on Monday that “a vote for Roy Cooper is a vote for more crime, more violence, more criminals.”
REPUBLICAN WANTS JUDGES HELD ACCOUNTABLE IF THEY RELEASE REPEAT VIOLENT CRIMINALS WHO STRIKE AGAIN
He followed up later in the day after Trump’s Truth Social post, adding that the president was “spot on” with his assessment of Democrats.
“My far-left opponent Roy Cooper’s spineless, soft-on-crime policies have unleashed predators like Decarlos Brown Jr. and countless other violent thugs who unleash hell on innocent people because they know they’ll face no real justice,” Whatley said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Cooper campaign for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. The former governor announced his run at the end of July in a video posted to social media.
A Fox News analysis of Cooper’s social media did not uncover any posts about the incident. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s social media does not appear to have any comments on the matter, either.
North Carolina’s Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, was slammed over the weekend, when the video of the stabbing was first released, for not speaking out earlier. He finally commented on the matter Monday morning.
“I am heartbroken for the family of Iryna Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence, and I am appalled by the footage of her murder. We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe,” Stein posted on X.
“That’s why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained police officers. I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so they can stop these horrific crimes and hold violent criminals accountable.”
During a tour of the Museum of the Bible in the nation’s capital on Monday, Trump weighed in on the event once again after the video of the attack surfaced over the weekend.
“We’re all people of religion, but there are evil people,” Trump said. “And we have to confront that.”
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
